New Vibrations: Fink

Though Fink's album dropped with a relatively small splash, compared with the coinciding releases of Jay-Z and Howie Day's latest work, Sort of Revolution nonetheless should garner some looks for the noise it creates. Englishman Fin Grenall, musically known as Fink, released his fourth album last week through Ninja Tune Records.

The album headlines classical Fink, a fluid yet earthy voice set against softly sweet and mellow instrumentals, sure to be wafting along with the smell of java and pastries in a coffee shop near you. Think a more downbeat, softer version of Citizen Cope. Continuing to play bass and drums behind Greenall are Guy Whittaker and Tim Thornton, respectively.

Co-writing on two of the songs is none other than John Legend, the soulful piano man himself, fresh off a concert tour this summer. Fink's impressive resume includes helping Legend write his hit track off the Evolver album, "Green Light."

Building upon his third record, 2007's highly acclaimed Distance and Time, Fink does make some wonderful magic in Sort of Revolution, but some of his tricks are not quite the fan favorites as are those in his earlier work.

The title track is by far the best song on the album; the simple repetition of the background acoustics harmonizes perfectly with Greenall's deep and soothing tones.

But the song gets more complex. Bass, and then drums get added, and at the end, an ethereal techno chord mixes in as the final ingredient, doing the title justice as the plain reverberation of a couple guitar strings and a calming voice is "sort of revolution"-ized into this hypnotic tune that beats slowly, melodically in one's head.

Each piece is added to the other and the lyrics string them all together perfectly, Greenall's tenor growing progressively through the track. This is one of those songs you'll want to listen to a few times over to fully grasp how good it is. The music video's not bad either.

There are several other songs that highlight Fink's skillful attributes. "Move On Me," co-written with and featuring Legend, adds Legend's beautiful piano chords to a simple hook that crescendoes towards the end of the song.

Legend and Fink address the topic of sex in "Maker" - the song starts off a bit disappointingly, but it finishes well. The last song of the record, "Walking In The Sun," really showcases the extent of Greenall's vocals; there's a bit of a rasp in his lyrics, which are complemented nicely with the gospel choir that sings in the background.

What Sort of Revolution lacks in the rest of the album is the same stuff that defines the best of it: the soul that oozes out of the title track and a few of the other songs on the albums. There is too much experimentation with that haunting techno sound in the album's lesser tracks, and not enough of Greenall's voice and the far-reaching places it can go.

A lack of meaning in some of the songs' lyrics also hinders its quality; we want more of Fink's introspective, universal words set to his equally deep music. In "See It All" he mutters instead of sings and the uppity, discordant piano moves the song rapidly forward rather than Fink's voice. That he gives much more of his voice to those slow-simmering songs than his much quicker, higher-paced melodies is no coincidence. It's like comparing Mom's beef stew to ramen. The tracks that do work, work very well, and they alone are worth giving the album a shot.