Maker | Fink

*I claim no ownership or rights over this video.

Lyrics:

“Meet me at the station at seven o'clock
You know what I like and that I like 'em a lot 
Let's go somewhere quiet where we can engage 
Let's go somewhere rowdy where we can misbehave
Coz I'm a maker baby I'm a maker”

Artist: Fin Greenall aka Fink

Song: Maker

Some days I'm just glad that I'm bored and listless. A little restless and trying hard to stay focused on myself and my life. It was a day like this when I got acquainted with this artist.

Days when I don’t want to be annoyingly cheerful and prefer just staying to myself, Fink is a perfect background score. Ambient music combined with his bluesy voice lets one float in their light-headed sphere of thought. Hardly intruding the thought process and filling all empty spaces.

Fink usually sticks to blues, indie folksy stuff with an ambient edge to most of his productions. Maker has a fine pace like his every other piece of work. I got hooked onto Fink with ‘Fear is like fire’ and observed that a steady rhythm plays a major part in all his pieces. What drew me towards Maker were its simple yet sultry lyrics that couldn't have sounded better than how Fink’s voice and technique makes it sound. His style tries to blend into the background instead of standing out against the music. The listener is able to absorb the piece in its entirety.

Highly underrated and I believe,  intentionally so.

About The Artist: 

Fin Greenall, born in 1972 in Cornwall, is an English singer, songwriter, guitarist, producer and DJ. After he earned his degree in History and English from Leeds University where he discovered electronic and dance music, Fink started his career seriously with Ninja Tune subsidiary N-Tone’s release of his single ‘Fink Funk’ in 1997.

With his mother from the field of classical music and father a folk musician himself, music came quite naturally to him. It was more like a way of life that he had grown up with. He produced other artists like Martin Taylor (guitarist), Michael Pitt and Robert Belfour.  One of the songs he co-wrote with Amy Winehouse appears on Winehouse’s posthumous collection called Lioness: Hidden Treasures.

He has also collaborated with artists like Nitin Sawhney and has appeared on the Indian collaborative musical show called the ‘Dewarists’ alongside artists like Salim Sulaiman and Shafqat Amanat Ali.

Some other pieces worth listening to:

•          Fear is like fire
•          Half time feat. Amy Winehouse
•          Wheels

Hey Mama Wolf | Devendra Banhart

*I claim no ownership or rights over this video.

Lyrics:

“When I'm in the woods

I know what to call you now

Hey Mama Wolf

Hey Mama Wolf

Well maybe the mountains know what

To call you now

Maybe the mountains know what

To call you now

Hey Mama Wolf

Hey Mama Wolf”

Artist: Devendra Obi Banhart

Song: Hey Mama Wolf

So, Devendra belongs to the new-age weird America variety and might not appeal to all ears. What caught my attention in this seemingly predictable yet surprisingly original artist's work was the rawness in his music. Yes, my ears loved the lack of digital finishing that all the new musical by-products of the present day carry. It sounded pure and untouched. I’m sure it wasn’t exactly untouched, but definitely sounded like that.

The quirks in his music and some usually peculiar videos were the next thing that kept me walking through most of his works. ‘Hey Mama Wolf’ was my favourite from the handful that I managed to expose myself to. The song creates an ambience of sweet languor. A shivering voice that’s trying to be careful about every note to keep up with the music. The chorus leaves an echo in the head and makes your skull feel so empty that you feel like doing everything to keep that sensation alive. The violin dressing over a creamy guitar play and a howling wolf to convince you to spend an eternity with Mama wolf.

I was thrilled by every element in this piece. Even if you don’t successfully become a Devendra Banhart fan. This song will definitely make it to the playlist on your music player.

About The Artist: 

Devendra Obi Banhart (born May 30, 1981) is a Venezuelan American singer-songwriter and visual artist. Banhart was born in Houston, Texas and was raised by his mother in Venezuela, until he moved to California as a teenager.

Banhart's music is quite often connected with the New Weird America genre. Some consider his works as "free associative work”.  Banhart's albums offer appropriate guitar strums, trippy-hippie tone poetry that some might consider for an ashram style setting. His works like Carmen Sita might attract a lot of criticism for the wayward portrayal of Hindu mythology. But he exercises his freedom of thought quite unaffected by facts. His work can be considered as an outcome of influence rather that misinformation.

Some other pieces worth listening to:

• Bad Girl

• Carmen Sita – The video deserves a watch!

• Little Yellow Spider