Album Review: Fink – Resurgam
2 min read
Fink is the pseudonym of the Berlin-based English singer-songwriter, Fin Greenall. It is also the name of the three-piece band he formed in the mid-2000s – with bassist Guy Whittaker and drummer Tim Thornton – when he grew disillusioned with dance music and being a DJ, which had shaped his music career up to that point. Resurgam is the trio’s sixth studio album, and while one can easily hear elements of the folk-rock stylings that marked the band’s previous records, Resurgam’s sound is predominately one of sparsity, of repetition and variation that would almost be drone were the music heavier.
The album opens with the titular Resurgam – Latin for “I shall rise again” – an eight-and-a-half-minute mini-epic firmly anchored in its mellow and meditative mood by Thornton’s drums and Whittaker’s bass. Throughout, augmentations from guitar and Greenall’s vocals – delivering sparse lyrics, and proving to be exceptionally well suited to the track’s mood – ensure the listener’s attention doesn’t wane despite a heavy reliance on repetition. There are certainly worse ways to start an album. Even with its funky pacing, Day 22 maintains the mood established by Resurgam, at least until the subdued burst of crunchy guitar towards the song’s conclusion.
Lead single, Cracks Appear, offers a more dynamic take on the group’s sonic palette, with the washes of lightly distorted guitar adding a welcome depth to the previously established spacious atmosphere of the record. The overall effect is somewhere between Elbow and a less in-your-face Coldplay and, along with Word to the Wise, the track illustrates Greenall’s strengths as a vocalist. Despite the consistently strong performances from the band, and excellent production from Flood, Resurgam starts to feel ‘samey’ by the halfway mark and, at fifty-minutes duration, it isn’t a short album by any stretch. With Resurgam, Fink offers plenty to the patient listener who takes the time to immerse themselves.
