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.
Fink: I adore this woman and the art she makes. Nina is married to of Montreal’s Kevin Barnes, and along with David Barnes is responsible for much of the band’s art, video and live performance concepts. She and I started Harouki Zombi together, an all-female performance-art dance party where we wreaked havoc all over the country—culminating in a lines-drawn-in-the-sand mini riot at SXSW that had organizers butting heads over artistic freedom vs. destruction of property. Who knew a little glitter could make grown men so upset? You can check out her latest work here.
