Orenda was born and raised in Birmingham, AL, and Ask The Night is very much a reflection of and homage to her Southern roots - the cultural and familial upbringing that helped to shape her aesthetic. The album, also inspired by traditional American folk music and Southern Gothic literature, is a mix of both her personal experiences and stories told in character.
The songs vary in tone and style, while the instrumentation includes acoustic and slide guitar, mandolin, banjo, accordion, violin, upright bass, pump organ...even saw. From the plaintive, melancholy opener "Why Is The Night Sad" to the evocative "That Certain-Something Spring" to the sweetly doleful closer "The Moon Knows", Ask The Night is a captivating collection of folk songs, woven and intertwined by Orenda's distinctive, heartrending vocals.
Ask The Night was primarily recorded live to 8-track by Stephen Bartolomei (Mal Madrigal) in Orenda's former Omaha, NE, basement (she is now based in Los Angeles, CA), as well as by Andy LeMaster (Now It's Overhead; production on Bright Eyes, Conor Oberst and the Mystic Valley Band, Azure Ray) in his Athens, GA, living room.
Track listing for Ask The Night:
1. Why Is The Night Sad
2. High Ground
3. Sister
4. That Certain-Something Spring
5. The Garden
6. Wind
7. Alabama
8. The Mural
9. Half-Light
10. The Moon Knows
The album features a wide variety of players and singers, including producers Stephen Bartolomei and Andy LeMaster, Isaac Brock (Modest Mouse), Dan McCarthy (McCarthy Trenching), and Adrianne Verhoeven (Dri, The Anniversary, Art In Manila), among others.
Preview and Purchase Orenda Fink CDs
Live: Myles Kennedy's Art of Letting Go U.S. Tour Launches In Joliet
Sites and Sounds: In Memory of Dickey Betts Show Coming to Macon, GA
5 Starr: Ringo Starr - Look Up
Sites and Sounds: Music Adds to Your Caribbean Fun in Sint Maarten - Saint Martin
Ex-Whitesnake Guitarist John Sykes Dead At 65
Snot Share Video Recap Of First Reunion Show
Periphery's Jake Bowen and Misha Mansoor's Four Seconds Ago Preview New Album
Shutdown Share Track From First New Music in 25 Years
Def Leppard Rock Mexico Without Vivian Campbell Due To Cancer Treatment
Alex Lifeson In No Rush To Stage Reunion Without Peart
Celebrating Bob Dylan Auction Brought In Almost $1.5 Million
KISS Star Gene Simmons Expands Spring Solo Tour