Review: I Hear It In The Rain by Michael Jon Fink

Artist: Michael Jon Fink
Album: I Hear It In The Rain

The music found on I Hear It In The Rain by Michael Jon Fink is certanly at home in the setting of a spacemusic radio proram such as STAR'S END. But the origins of this album are less cosmic than that of fellow playlist regulars and more scholarly in its approach to music. Fink writes music which can be traced back to the traditions of classical music yet with an ear for the more modern and literate audience.

The five pieces on I Hear It In The Rain range from the luminosity of "For Celesta", a cool blue melancholic minor key reflection on minimalism and remembrance; to the cloudy depths of "Living To Be Hunted By The Moon", the 20 minute descent into deep purple drones and pensive thoughts. "Five Pieces For Piano" and "Two Preludes For Piano" are Fink's compositional study on degrees of harmonic contrast, the space between the notes and timing. But the centerpiece of this album is the title track. The slow octave dance of electric piano notes draws this piece through time as cymbal swells and glisando guitar accent the passage. Noirish guitar and keyboard progressions add form and ceremony. "I Hear It In The Rain" is a solemn and beautiful track of contemporary instrumental music - a comforting yet somber way to conclude the album.

I Hear It In The Rain deals with silence, serenity and slow time and gives voice to the interaction between academic methodology and the blur of ambient music.

- Chuck van Zyl/STAR'S END 31 July 2002

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