Pretty Little Thing.

Si, probabilmente il titolo del primo brano potrebbe racchiudere la natura di questo disco.

Recentemente pubblicato dalla Ninja Tune, per la quale l’autore aveva già inciso il primo album, (“Fresh Produce”) "Biscuits For Breakfast" segna una svolta radicale nella produzione di Mr. Fink e si presenta come una gustosa anomalia nel catalogo della label.

Abbandonati i territori di un hip hop innervato di funk nei quali si muoveva l’esordio, imbocca un sentiero apparentemente desolato, lontano anche da ogni tentazione di fornire una personale versione di quella ibridazione tra l’estetica delle macchine e le sonorità della tradizione che sembra essere oggi una delle direzioni favorite, per un numero crescente di musicisti, nel percorso verso una moderna ridefinizione della forma canzone.

Fink raccoglie invece, con delicata sensibilità, l’essenza di un suono che ha radici nella zona più crepuscolare della tradizione folk e blues, liberandolo di ogni possibile orpello.

E sciogliendolo in una dimensione soul, morbida e vibrante.

Si avvale dell’essenziale dipingendo, con tratti lievi ma sicuri, nove quadri per lo più acustici, dai sobri e raffinati arrangiamenti, dove collocare le storie che la sua voce, intima e calda, è in grado di narrare con stile.

Questione di stile

Uno stile che si dimostra molto personale, anche quando sullo sfondo appare, quasi inevitabilmente, il fantasma del primissimo Ben Harper.

Se le più recenti derive di quest’ultimo, infatti, sono segnate dalla sovrabbondanza, la piccola, graziosa creatura di Fink vive di un’ispirazione in grado di donare una nuova, splendida veste anche ad un brano come “All Cried Out” di Alison Moyet. Semplicemente spogliandolo per poi metterne in luce la natura sensuale attraverso una delicata versione acustica affidata a due chitarre e ad una voce sussurrata ma intensa.

Ma si dall’inizio, da quella “Pretty Little Thing” che lo apre in modo eccellente, il disco è una piacevolissima sorpresa che non tradisce proseguendo nell’ascolto.

Si entra con naturalezza, nel suo sobrio ma accogliente universo sonoro. Anche quando quel che ci rivelano le parole, come in “Pills In My Pocket”, è il volto della disillusione.

Fink sceglie poi un blues classico e minimale, “Hush Now”, per lasciare spazio alla voce di un’ospite femminile, Tina Grace. Che si dimostra perfettamente a proprio agio, muovendosi nell’atmosfera estenuata e fumosa plasmata dall’andamento del brano con una seducente grazia felina.

Ma è in perfetta solitudine, chitarra e voce, quando ci accompagna, con la scarna “Sorry I’m Late”, verso l’uscita.

I feel like I'm 21 all over again

Leggo in un’intervista a Fink del suo apprezzamento nei confronti di musicisti quali Joni Mitchell, John Lee Hooker, John Martyn. E dell’entusiasmo con il quale ha realizzato questo disco, “Mi sento come se avessi di nuovo 21 anni”, dice.

E’ sufficiente ascoltare "Biscuits For Breakfast" per percepire quanto la prima affermazione trovi un eccellente conferma nelle sue canzoni.

Che si direbbero, però, frutto dell’ispirazione di un autore particolarmente maturo, a dispetto dei “suoi” 21 anni.

Un disco lieve ma denso, semplice e carico di atmosfera.

Un nome da seguire con una certa attenzione.

Un ascolto decisamente consigliato.

Elenco tracce testi e video

01   Pretty Little Thing (04:35)

when she leaves
she's just asking to be followed
when she walks out
all she wants is, to be led
all my boys say
she's just asking, for it
i ain't sayin’ nothing

she couldn't care less
wearing that dress i tell ya

pretty little thing, hot little thing
hot little thing who knows it - don't suppose it would be cool if we hung out

when you walked by
you know every guy noticed
the way that your dress
clings on for the ride
all my boys say
she's the type to fake it
i ain't sayin’ nothing

she couldn't care less
wearing that dress i tell ya

pretty little thing, hot little thing
hot little thing who knows it - don't suppose it would be cool if we hung out

we could go out
we could go anywhere that you want
we could stay in
and we could do anything that you want
we could do lunch
in soho
or something

coz when you walked in
all i wanted was the reason
to talk to that girl
whose grace is so rare
all my boys say
you won't get her numbers
i won't tell em nothing

pretty little thing, hot little thing
hot little who knows it - don't suppose it would be cool if we hung out

02   Pills in My Pocket (04:31)

03   You Gotta Choose (03:16)

you gotta choose, you gotta choose
whose going home with you tonite
is it me, is it me, i gotta know where we go from here

red amber green
amber red

you gotta choose, you gotta choose
where it all ends and where it all begins
is it me, is it me, or is this whole game just about who wins

red amber green
amber red

you gotta choose, you gotta choose
is it left or is it right
is it me, is it me, all the lights are against s tonite

red amber green
amber red

you gotta choose
which way we go, i'm completely lost

04   All Cried Out (04:40)

You took your time to come back this
time
The grass has grown under your feet
In your absence I changed my mind
And someone else is sitting in your seat

I know that I said that there'd be
no-one else
I know that I said I'd be true
But baby - I burned Cupid's arrow
And here's the short and narrow
I've nothing left to offer you

'Cause I'm all cried out
You took a whole lot of loving for
a handful of nothing
All cried out
It's hard to give you something when
You're pushing me

So don't look surprised there was
no disguise
You know where I stood from the start
So stop - look around you
You're right back where I found you
Take back your cold and empty heart

You go your way
I'll go mine
I won't stay around here
Don't waste my time

All cried out...

05   Hush Now (feat. Tina Grace) (04:11)

06   Biscuits (03:53)

Biscuits for breakfast
Cup of tea for a man
Four more years of this shit and I'll be
Sixteen
Pushin the trolley
Doin the rounds
Four more years of this shit and I'll be
One of these clowns

In my office
On the fifth floor
Biscuits for breakfast yeah
Biscuits for breakfast

Biscuits for breakfast
Cup of tea for a man
Four years on in this game and I'm almost 16
I want a chocolate
Give me some cake
Gimme so much more than I think I can take

In my office
On the fifth floor
Biscuits for breakfast Yeah
Biscuits for breakfast

Over an arrow
Over the trolley
Over the desk
It's all the same
Pushin' the message
Don't hate the player
Hate the game
It's all the same

In my office
On the fifth floor
I can see the world go round beneath me
Biscuits for Breakfast yeah
I can see my world by now before me
I can see my world by now before me
I can see my world by now before me
I can see my world by now before me

07   So Long (03:49)

so long, so long, long time blue babe

she had long fingers, and a long caress
she had long toes that wiggled when we get undressed
long time lovin, long time love
i got the long time blues coz i can't get enough

long time blue babe
long time blue babe
long time blue

i got it bad, but i got it good
with you i got it every way that a young man should
long time loving long time love
long time before me and you had enough

long time blue babe
long time blue babe
long time blue

so long

08   Kamlyn (04:28)

Kamlyn, i hope you understand
i hope you know i'm sorry that it's your blood on my hands
Kamlyn, this isn't what i planned at all
but don't you know one last goodbye is now a one night stand is all

coz

i left myself, i left myself behind
on the heath, in the grass, in the sunshine
and i watch myself as i stab myself in the back
with the question mark

Kamlyn, i hope you know it's tough
to see you one last time just to give you back your stuff, it's tough baby
Kamlyn, i know it, i know we're still in love, i know it, i know
but don't you know one last goodbye ain't never gone be enough

coz

i left myself, i left myself behind
on the heath, in the grass, in the sunshine
and i watch myself as i stab myself in the back
with the question mark

always in control of it
always in control of it
this isn't what i planned at all
coz i'm always in control

Kalmyn, i wish you'd seen the signs
i hope you know i'm sorry that the best laid plans were mine
yeah....
i hope you understand
i hope you know i'm sorry that it's your blood on my hands

09   Sorry I'm Late (XFM Flo-Motion session) (04:34)

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