On The Art of Longevity S2 Ep.3, Fin Greenhall of Fink and Keith discuss one of the most intriguing concepts in music today - that of making a song something more than a finite recording - but on ongoing story.

The latest record by Fink, IIUII: “it isn’t until it is” is an acoustic retrospective described as “viewing the past through the lessons it has taught”. The album precedes an accompanying memoir of singer Fin Greenhall. On The Art of Longevity, Fin explained the ideas behind the project. “I’m a better singer now than I was in 2005, so I feel I can do a better job of singing these songs. As a band we are much more loose, grounded and subtle than we used to be - comfortable with who we are”. As such, the idea behind the project is to do a better job of those songs by bringing experience to bear as the songs are revisited and reinterpreted. “I love the fact that when you write a song, that song exists, but then over time it can be dressed many different ways”. 

Indeed, we discuss one of the most intriguing concepts in music today - that of making a song something more than simply finite recording. A song should never be set in stone, something Fink seems to understand acutely. Their last studio album, ‘Bloom Innocent’, is a case in point - the band has since released two further versions of the record - an acoustic work and a “Horizontalism” edition (Fink has even sub-branded it’s remix versions under the Horizontalism concept). The IIUII album is the first acoustic retrospective of the whole catalogue, yet already there has been some orchestral versions of some of these songs, in the superb 2013 release ‘Fink Meets The Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra’. 

While Fink is not one to bend to the whims and will of the record industry (“I’ve never tried to write a hit”), there is something savvy in the way the band has navigated a path through. Each album has gotten progressively bigger, fuller, or more quietly epic in scope and ambition. Having said that, Fink initially resisted the crossover to commercial success. In 2014 the band created its own label ‘imprint’ RECOUP’D Records, with long-term partner Ninja Tune (the iconic electronic label felt like the band’s new material wasn’t quite in its wheelhouse). On that year’s ‘Hard Believer’ album, along came the song ‘Looking Too Closely’. The song is an exercise in economy, grabbing you with the acoustic strum intro and the genius opening couplet “This is a song about somebody else, so don’t worry yourself, worry yourself”. It doesn’t rely on a big chorus or any kind of hook, yet the band knew it was a more commercial song, so much so that Fin’s first instinct was to throw it out: “I wanted to cut it from the album, but my manager said if I did they would walk away” (now that is good management). So, the track led-off the album (initially given away as a free download) and 100 million streams later this understated trio had a genuine streaming hit - something that underpins anything else they wanted to do from hereon in. As someone wise once told me over coffee and biscuits at work, “The numbers set you free”. Sometimes great things can emerge from the humdrum of office life. Just ask Fin Greenhall. 

This little sampler of Everyday Mysteries should help you enjoy some of Fink’s songs, in their various guises.

IIUII is available everywhere via the usual links and the memoir is also on Finkworld.