| Artist |
Fink |
| Album Title: |
Hard Believer |
| Album Cover: |
 |
| Primary Genre |
Rock |
| Format |
CD |
| Released |
07/11/2014 |
| Label |
No Paper Records |
| Catalog No |
R45 |
| Bar Code No |
5 903111 340469 |
| Packaging |
Cardboard 6 Panel Gatefold |
| Tracks |
| Hard Believer (Disc 1) |
| 1.
|
Hard Believer (5:25)
|
| 2.
|
Green and the Blue (6:05)
|
| 3.
|
White Flag (5:04)
|
| 4.
|
Pilgrim (7:03)
|
| 5.
|
Two Days Later (5:40)
|
| 6.
|
Shakespeare (6:18)
|
| 7.
|
Truth Begins (5:05)
|
| 8.
|
Looking Too Closely (5:11)
|
| 9.
|
Too Late (4:15)
|
| 10.
|
Keep Falling (4:30)
|
|
| Hard Believer (Disc 2) |
| 1.
|
Hardbeliever (5:46)
|
| 2.
|
Green and the Blue (4:34)
|
| 3.
|
Pilgrim (5:43)
|
| 4.
|
Truth Begins (5:08)
|
|
| Date Acquired |
01/12/2024 |
| Personal Rating |
 |
| Acquired from |
Arturroxx (Discogs) |
| Purchase Price |
12.00 |
Web Links |
All Music Guide Entry:
Bandcamp entry:
Discogs Entry:
Wikipedia Entry: |
Notes |
Notes:
Released in gatefold sleeve.
Credits:
Design – James Lake
Drum [Tech] – Mike Fasano
Engineer – Kasper Frenkel, Max Gilkes, Scott Smith (18)
Engineer [Additional] – Clint Welander (tracks: 3, 7)
Mastered By – Joe LaPorta
Mixed By – Billy Bush, Fin Greenall
Producer, Engineer – Billy Bush
Recorded By – Itay Kashti
Written-By – Blair Mackichan (tracks: 4), Fin Greenall, Guy Whittaker, Ryan Keen (tracks: 10), Tim Thornton
Companies, etc.:
Phonographic Copyright ℗ – Ninja Tune
Copyright © – Ninja Tune
Recorded At – Central Sound Studios, London
Recorded At – The Sound Factory
Recorded At – Kingsize Soundlabs
Recorded At – Electric Monkey Recording Studio
Recorded At – 1 Sonic Mastering
Recorded At – 7Dials
Recorded At – Ximena's Garage
Mixed At – Red Razor Sounds
Mastered At – Sterling Sound
Barcode and other Identifiers:
Barcode (Text): 5 903111 340469
Barcode (Scanned): 5903111340469
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Analyzed Folder: Fink - Hard Believer CD1_dr.txt
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
DR Peak RMS Filename
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
DR7 -0.10 dB -09.77 dB 01 - Hard Believer.aif
DR5 -0.10 dB -09.48 dB 02 - Green And The Blue.aif
DR6 -0.10 dB -09.63 dB 03 - White Flag.aif
DR5 -0.10 dB -08.57 dB 04 - Pilgrim.aif
DR6 -0.10 dB -08.20 dB 05 - Two Days Later.aif
DR5 -0.10 dB -10.09 dB 06 - Shakespeare.aif
DR6 -0.10 dB -09.13 dB 07 - Truth Begins.aif
DR5 -0.10 dB -08.91 dB 08 - Looking Too Closely.aif
DR5 -0.10 dB -08.25 dB 09 - Too Late.aif
DR7 -1.27 dB -10.34 dB 10 - Keep Falling.aif
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Number of Files: 10
Official DR Value: DR6
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Analyzed Folder: Fink - Hard Believer CD2_dr.txt
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
DR Peak RMS Filename
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
DR8 -0.21 dB -9.80 dB 01 - Hard Believer (Denmark Street Session).aif
DR6 -0.21 dB -8.69 dB 02 - Green And The Blue (Denmark Street Session).aif
DR6 -0.31 dB -8.10 dB 03 - Pilgrim (Denmark Street Session).aif
DR7 -0.21 dB -9.75 dB 04 - Truth Begins (Denmark Street Session).aif
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Number of Files: 4
Official DR Value: DR7
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
|
| Reviews |
All Music Guide Review by Thom Jurek:
After two live dates cut for the long-suffering faithful, Fink -- comprising singer/songwriter/guitarist Fin Greenall, bassist Guy Whittaker, and drummer Tim Thornton -- offer their first new studio material in three years. Hard Believer is, for the most part, a slow burner; one that employs a more varied, albeit moodier set of textures and sounds than its predecessor, 2011's Perfect Darkness. Recorded at Hollywood Sound with producer/engineer Billy Bush (Garbage, Foster the People), the pace here is generally slow -- even dirge-like in places -- but the timbral palette that illustrates these melancholy songs puts them across in often unexpected ways. The opening title track begins on the blues tip (with Greenall once more revealing his great debt to guitarist Davy Graham). Spare, gently reverbed acoustic guitar and stomp box initiate, but at a tad over a minute in, a multi-tracked vocal chorus subtly enters, followed shortly thereafter by kick drum, skeletal bassline, electric guitar, more echo, piano, and more lathered-on effects to erect a stoned crescendo inside the repetitive-to-the-point-of-hypnosis groove. On "Green and the Blue," jazzy-folk (à la John Martyn), meets dubwise rhythm painted by a swirling textural buildup via piano, synth, and stacked backing vocals, delivering a pronounced sense of drama. Speaking of dub, it's the primary vehicle in the steamy "White Flag." Bass, tom-toms, and heavily edited guitar chords create a frame for the vocals as other instruments appear and vanish seemingly at random in the humid mix. Clearly, Greenall's previous occupation as a DJ comes in handy here, even when tempos and rhythms are relatively static. The tortoise-like pace in the lion's share of these cuts creates not only an atmosphere, but underscore the emotional heft in Greenall's lyrics. That said, a few tracks -- "Pilgrim," "Shakespeare," and "Looking Too Closely" -- shake things up a bit. Their midtempo, nearly rockist dynamics and sprawling production result in Fink coming dangerously close to terrain inhabited by Coldplay. On "Too Late" and "Truth Begins," the use of slight yet idiosyncratic and deft pop hooks adds a sleight-of-hand dimension that escapes the traps of those numbers. Song to song, Hard Believer is an emotional bummer but it doesn't suffer from sophomoric self-indulgence; instead, the hazy, gauzy, often open-ended production and arrangements reveal that this group won't be reined in by a single approach and that a "signature" sonic trademark is far too confining a place to reside. It's the world of sound that creates individual homes for the tunes. As such, there is a widening sense of exploration at work here; the considerable benefit of that aesthetic is clear even when it falls a tad short of the mark.
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| Cover 1 |
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| Cover 2 |
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| Cover 3 |
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| Cover 4 |
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| Cover 5 |
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| Cover 6 |
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| Cover 7 |
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| Cover 8 |
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| Cover 9 |
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