Middling by The Finks
The Finks are a collection of people and ideas based around the songs of Oliver Mestitz. Middling is their fifth release in as many years.
Following the all-acoustic Lucklaster (2014) and a piano-and-vocals EP, Settling (2015), Middling captures The Finks with a rhythm section, three shared vocalists and guest appearances on guitar, piano and cello.
Middling was written and recorded by Oliver at home using an 8-track cassette mixer. He played almost everything himself, layering instrument upon instrument and mixing each song straight to tape.
To listen to Middling is to step through the front door: the guitars are warm, the piano slightly wonky, the vocals echo off the floorboards and the windows let in sounds of traffic, birds and rain.
Tracklist
| 1. | Your Two Cents | 4:03 |
| 2. | Scuttlebutt | 3:18 |
| 3. | Old Life | 5:10 |
| 4. | Suffering Song | 4:29 |
| 5. | Jamie's Got A Baby | 2:50 |
| 6. | Good Intentions | 3:59 |
| 7. | How Long Is Too Long | 5:04 |
| 8. | I Went Back To Bed | 3:24 |
| 9. | If You Really Loved Me | 2:46 |
| 10. | I Don't Sing That Song Anymore | 2:59 |
Credits
Featuring Sarah Farquharson (vocals, cello), Madeleine Duke (vocals), Matthew Dwyer (piano on 3, 5, 8) and Jake Core (guitar on 6). Mastered by Mikey Young. Released through Milk! Records, 2016.
License
All rights reserved.
The Finks play the songs of Oliver Mestitz. They are sincere but flippant, intimate but aloof, subtle but unpolished.
The Finks have released a steady stream of quietly uncompromising music via Milk! Records since 2012 – three EPs, two cassettes, four LPs and a handful of singles. Critics have described The Finks as “crushingly beautiful” and “perhaps the most underrated act in Australian music”.