Fink – Perfect Darkness | Album Review


As the name suggests, Perfect Darkness takes on the chiaroscuro effects it evokes, and forms a deep thunderous catharsis with the voice of a melancholic baritone acoustic singer called Fink. Fink’s fifth album sounds like a broken man who’s torn away the passions of his heart and laid it to rest onto this CD – it feels like a modern day Greek tragedy. Produced by Billy Bush (Beck, Garbage), Fin Greenall and his band produced this album in the space of 20 days.  Recorded in Los Angeles, the Brighton-based singer/songwriter wanted to capture the raw, organic urgency of fear onto his album – and from the opening number, I can safely say that Perfect Darkness well executes their conception with heart-throbbing accuracy.

Fink’s sense of deep bass, folk blues certainly wins the appraisal of critics in the UK. Fink’s meaty ensemble of chilling topic matters and themes resonate more than the speakers and bones of their listeners, but more of their memories and past experiences.  His relative manner provides the ample story telling for that particular thing that has happened to us all.  This is particularly evident in the fourth track, “Honesty,” where the drum claps summon the urgency required to claw forth the truth for the prospective listener.

Fink – “Honesty”:

As a producer who worked on one of Amy Winehouse’s demos, and a collaborator who has worked with the likes of John Legend and Professor Green, Fink’s Perfect Darkness has the strengths of a well produced, thought out vision.  It portrays a right balance of emotion to its lyrically poetic melodies [“Fear Is Like Fire”] equally showing the talented range of skills Fink possess to enamour anybody into playing the guitar.  His finger-picking guitaring and harmonious vocals portray an image that could be reminiscent for a new age of romanticism.  His sound is like the cry of a new born baby, if Jose Gonzalez, Radiohead and J Tillman somehow all had a child together.

However, some criticism is sure to be found.  For me, I felt that even though Fink has supplied a lovely fifth installment, it wasn’t something that stepped into a different realm from his other material.  Similar to his 2007 album Distance And Time, it felt a little disappointing to experience ‘the Nickelback effect’ of hearing the same thing again but with a different title – but in this case the new album is better than the last. [Unlike Nickelback.]

Although, if there’s one track to pinpoint Perfect Darkness‘s exciting use of trance-like exigency in its acoustic blueness, “Wheels” would have to be it.

Fink – “Wheels”:

So, if you’re in emotional turmoil and in need of a good remedy to extenuate it all, Fink’s Perfect Darkness is the abyss to venture into – you’ll come out a positively changed man/woman.

Fink – Perfect Darkness
Released: June 13, 2011
Label: Ninja Tune
Buy: iTunes UK / iTunes US / Amazon UK / Amazon US

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3 responses

  1. […] this album it seems. From “Spinning Out,” featuring upcoming singer/songwriter, Fink (read our review of his latest album, Perfect Darkness, here) all the way over to “Nightmares” featuring Royce Da 5’9″, it seems that […]

  2. […] let’s go on to his new album, Perfect Darkness.  It has been said that Fink’s intentions were to capture, or at least evoke, a sense of […]

  3. […] about the Bristol singer/songwriter who originally penned the song in our interview with Fink, and our review of his album. Now won’t you join me in lusting after the followup to Andreya’s debut […]

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