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From The Desk Of Orenda Fink: Tropical Islands

Orenda Fink is known for her quiet, introspective songs and her unobtrusive approach to singing. Her music, both on her own solo albums and with Azure Ray (the band she fronts with longtime friend Maria Taylor), tends to be forlorn and unsettling, albeit imbued with an underlying belief in the ultimate goodness of existence. The songs on her new album, Blue Dream were inspired by the death of her dog, as well as general meditations on the limitations of existence on the material plane. On the LP, Fink goes deep into the primal questions of death and the meaning of life. The lyrics are dark, but the music is bright and buoyant, although still played at the laid-back tempos that are her forte. Fink will be guest editing magnetmagazine.com all week. Read our new feature on her.

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Fink: Well, OK, almost anywhere tropical will do. I never feel more at home on planet Earth than when I am in or near the tropics. The heat, the stickiness, the white sand, clear ocean water, the moon, the sun, avocados, fresh-caught seafood, mosquito nets, canopy beds, ceiling fans vs. air conditioning, the languid air, the politics, the slow pace, rum, menthol cigarettes, the music, tropical fruits, salt water and diesel fuel, ceramic tile and hard wood, cement houses and screenless windows, tropical storms, vibrant colors, indigenous cultures, ex-pats and the ruins of colonial architecture that fall apart so beautifully. I have a medium friend who says I had something going on there in a past life. That seems about right to me.