Orenda Fink | |
|---|---|
 Fink performing with Azure Ray in Los Angeles, 2018. Photo by Veronika Reinert. | |
| Background information | |
| Born | (1975-09-18)September 18, 1975 (age 49) Birmingham,Alabama,U.S. |
| Genres | Indie rock,dream pop |
| Instrument(s) | Vocals,guitar,bass guitar,trumpet |
| Labels | Flower Moon Records Saddle Creek Records Warm Records |
| Website | www.orendafink.com |
Orenda Fink is an Americansinger,musician, andwriter. Perhaps best known as half of theduoAzure Ray, Fink is also a member ofArt in Manila, O+S, Closeness, and High Up, and has played with or appeared as a guest on records byBright Eyes,Conor Oberst,Moby,The Faint,Pete Yorn, and others. She is married toTodd Fink (formerly Todd Baechle) ofThe Faint.
Born inBirmingham,Alabama, in 1975, Fink started her musical career at the age of fifteen in the band Little Red Rocket. The band released twoCDs,Who Did You Pay (1997,Tim/Kerr) andIt's in the Sound (2000, Monolyth Record Group).[1] After the group disbanded, Fink and her bandmate Maria Taylor moved toAthens,Georgia, where they formedAzure Ray. (DrummerLouis Schefano would go on to be a founding member ofRemy Zero). The pair signed toWarm Records and released two albums, theirself-titled debut in 2001, andBurn and Shiver in 2002, both produced byEric Bachmann (Archers of Loaf,Crooked Fingers).[2] After meetingBright Eyes front manConor Oberst in Athens, he invited the duo on tour and introduced them toSaddle Creek Records. Also in 2002, Fink and Taylor co-wrote and recorded two songs withMoby - "The Great Escape" (which appeared on his album18) and “Landing” (which appeared on theXXXsoundtrack) - and afterwards joined him on tour.[3] Saddle Creek released Azure Ray'sNovemberEP later in 2002, as well as their third album,Hold On Love, and itssingle, "The Drinks We Drank Last Night", in 2003, after which the band went on a six-year hiatus.
Fink released her firstsolo album,Invisible Ones, on August 23, 2005.[4] She said she had a spiritual awakening while inHaiti and her solo music is inspired, in part, by Haitianfolk music.[5] In 2006, she formed a new band,Art in Manila (originally called Art Bell), with members ofThe Good Life,The Anniversary, and others. Saddle Creek released the band's album,Set the Woods On Fire, on August 7, 2007.[6]
On November 30, 2008,Azure Ray reformed for a one-off show atLos Angeles's iconicTroubadour.[7] The duo was accompanied byAndy LeMaster ofNow It's Overhead andNick White ofTilly and the Wall.
Earlier in 2008, Fink began collaborating with a long-time friend,Remy Zero bassist Cedric LeMoyne, on a project called O+S.[8] Their songs were initially inspired by sounds she had recorded in Haiti, among other places, and loops crafted by LeMoyne out of those recordings. O+S' self-titled debut album was released on March 24, 2009 by Saddle Creek. The following October, Fink released her second solo album,Ask the Night, whichPitchfork called more "austere and rustic" with "intricate soundscapes". The single "High Ground" features guest vocals byIsaac Brock ofModest Mouse;[9] another single, "Why Is the Night Sad", had been previously played byAzure Ray at their 2008 reunion show.
In 2009, Taylor announced onKCRW'sMorning Becomes Eclectic that Azure Ray was reforming on a semi-permanent basis to play "five or six" shows, then beginning work on a new album. Their fourth album,Drawing Down the Moon, was released in September 2010.[10] Anouttake from those sessions, "Silverlake", featuringMark Linkous ofSparklehorse, was released as a standalone digital single in 2011.
Later in 2011, Fink began another collaborative project, this time with occasionalOf Montreal member Nina Barnes; "after hanging out together in Athens, Georgia", they "decided to form a DJing andperformance art duo." As part of their performance exploring the "dark and the light of the female condition", Barnes and Fink incorporatedzombies, sword battles, strawberries and whipped cream, paint and glitter, and Asian aesthetic influences into their earlier shows[11] as part of a "hedonistic celebration of all life's earthly delights".[12]Rolling Stone premiered their track "The Swamp Theme" on October 28, 2011,[13] and their debut release, a double7-inch vinyl single, was released in November 2012.[14]
Also in 2012, Fink and a pregnant Taylor entered the studio to record new Azure Ray material in collaboration with Andy LeMaster and Todd Fink.[15] A six-song EP,As Above So Below, was released on September 5, 2012, on Saddle Creek.[16] "The band wanted to break from the folksy, indie acoustic sound they’d established... It’s trance-inducing and minimalist... and their haunting voices are still just as lovely as ever" said Paste magazine.[17]
Fink began recording her third solo album in December 2013, working with her "dream team" ofBen Brodin,Todd Fink, andBill Rieflin.[18] She was "inspired to write the songs...after her beloved dog of 16 years, Wilson, passed away" and she later began "writing in adream journal every day, [when] the ideas of the album came forth".[19] The resulting album,Blue Dream, was released by Saddle Creek on August 19, 2014.NPR praised it as a "collection of distinctly futuristic love songs".[20]
In November 2015, Fink underwent emergencyheart surgery for an issue she'd been aware of since childhood, but had never dealt with.[21] After months spent recovering, she eventually began working again, first with painting and writing in journals.[22] Although she and her husband Todd had talked about starting a band together numerous times since getting married in 2005, they finally began working on a new project in early 2016, eventually taking the name Closeness.Personality Therapy, the debut EP by Closeness, was released on February 24, 2017, viaGraveface Records.[23] That same year, O+S released their second record,You Were Once the Sun, Now You're the Moon, on Saddle Creek.[24] Fink had also spent 2017 working on a new band with her sister, Christine Fink, called High Up. Their debut album, calledYou Are Here, was released on Conor Oberst's label,Team Love Records. Atwood Magazine reviewed the album positively, calling it "passionate, heartfelt and energetic", "soulful", and "a raw, intimate portrait of turmoil and inner strength".[25]
The previous November, Azure Ray announced that they would once again reunite for a one-off show in Los Angeles on January 20, 2018.[26] On September 26,Stereogum premiered a new Azure Ray single called "Palindrome", heralding the release of their first new record in six years, theWaves (Azure Ray EP)|Waves EP, on October 26, 2018, this time on Maria Taylor's own label, Flower Moon Records.[27]Billboard premiered a new recording of the title track of their 2003 album, "Hold On Love", reflecting the ways the song had changed after years of playing it live.[28] KCRW premiered the "hauntingly beautiful" video for EP's second single, "Last Summer in Omaha" (directed byNik Fackler), on October 25.[29]
Closeness spent May 2019 opening for The Faint on the American leg of their tour forEgowerk. In addition to performing tracks from their 2017 EP, they premiered new songs and acover ofSebadoh's "Brand New Love". In October 2020, Fink announced that her solo discography had moved to long-time collaboratorMaria Taylor's label, Flower Moon Records.[30] 2020 also celebrated the 20th Anniversary of Azure Ray'self-titled album, which was released on vinyl for the first time.Azure Ray announced their first album in 10 years, "Remedy," in March 2021. Recording during COVID-19 pandemic, the album's title track was released on March 25, 2021.[31]
In 2018, the first excerpts of Fink'smemoir were published in theanthologyRockhaven: A History of Interiors, published by Which Witch LA.[32] Hyperallergic.com said "the narrative strength of the anthology is carried by Adriana Widdoes, Orenda Fink,Johanna Hedva, and Suzanne Scanlon, whose generational accounts of their grandmother, mother, and selves, respectively, are as vivid as they are heartbreaking... Stoic, evocative, and heartbreaking, Fink brings us into the room and leaves us there. Stories ofpsychosis rarely resolve themselves and this literary choice rings true even if it isn't traditionally cathartic".[33]
Fink has also appeared in themusic videos for "Lovers Need Lawyers" byThe Good Life and "Yellow Datsun" byNeva Dinova.
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