Charlie Fink Cover My Tracks

Charlie Fink Cover My Tracks

Cover My Tracks is the debut solo album from the former Noah And The Whale frontman and songwriter, Charlie Fink. Set for release on 2^nd June 2017, Fink's beautiful, delicate new record was recorded at London's RAK Studios and features string arrangements by Trey Pollard (Natalie Prass, Matthew White), backing vocals from The Staves, and the acclaimed classical guitarist Laura Snowden. The album will be released ahead of a theatrical production of the same name in the UK this June, with a script by the award-winning playwright, David Greig. The first song to be released from the album, Firecracker, is available now.

Listen HERE

Watch the video here

Charlie Fink will perform the theatrical adaptation of Cover My Tracks in London alongside the actress Jade Anouka in a unique production, directed by Max Webster, with festival appearances set to follow throughout the UK summer.

Pre-order the album here: www.charliefink.co

Charlie Fink first became known as the frontman and songwriter for the band Noah And The Whale. The band's four albums sold over a million copies collectively, and they headlined at notable venues around the world including a sold out show at the Royal Albert Hall. Fink was also the producer of Laura Marling's Mercury Prize-nominated album Alas I cannot Swim and has written and produced music for artists including Charlotte Gainsbourg, Foxes, Rhodes and Eliot Sumner. He has directed music videos and two extended short films which were screened at music and film festivals in the UK and internationally.

After Noah And The Whale disbanded at the end of 2013, Fink remembers, he felt somewhat cast adrift. 'What does 10 years of being in a touring band give you permission to do afterwards? If you decide you want a break from music, it's not a great CV item. But the really scary thing was that at that moment I didn't feel passionate about wanting to write."

Salvation, though, can come in the most unlikely forms. For Fink, that form was a family theatre show, based on the works of Dr Seuss. And that's where we find the roots of Cover My Tracks. In early 2015, he was approached by The Old Vic to write the music for that year's Christmas show, an adaptation of The Lorax. Freed from the pressure of being the leader of a band, placed in a situation where he was part of a team – alongside director Max Webster and writer David Greig – he found his love of writing rekindled.

In the wake of The Lorax, which was nominated for an Olivier Award and will return to The Old Vic this November before touring in N America, Fink began to work on an idea about a songwriter who has vanished, leaving behind a notebook of songs, through which the listener tries to work out the mystery of the disappearance. 'I hadn't even decided whether it would be an album, or me performing, but as it developed, my desire to be in control led to it being what it is."

That development came in collaboration, again, with Webster and Greig, and the result is both the stage piece – again to be staged at the Old Vic – and the new studio album, which precedes the show, though is not a straightforward soundtrack recording. For one, The Old Vic won't be able to get the Spacebomb string section, led by Trey Pollard, over from Richmond, Virginia, for every show, or get The Staves to sing the backing vocals, or the classical guitarist Laura Snowden to perform. They are all present on the album, though, to fabulous effect.

Noah and the Whale fans will note Cover My Tracks' similarities with the sound of the second Noah album, The First Days of Spring. 'I think the sound of this record is the natural place I go to when I pick up a guitar," Fink says. 'The idea of simple, storytelling songs appealed to me. I feel like we could have followed up The First Days of Spring quite naturally with this record.

Cover My Tracks is not, then, a pop record. It is not just centred around two or three big radio hits. ('It's a headphones record. A late-night record. A roadtrip record"). It is slow burning, and quietly insinuating. 'The main thing about this record is that I was trying to make it beautiful. I want people to have a reason to listen to an album, and there's a reason this album works better than it would as songs on a playlist."

Cover My Tracks Tracklist

Firecracker

Anywhere You're Going Is On My Way

I Was Born To Be A Cowboy

The End Of The Legendary Hearts

Give Me The Road

Orpheus Is Playing The Troubadour

The Howl

I'm Through

Someone Above Me Tonight

Here Is Where We'll Meet

Firecracker Pt II

Pre-save Cover My Tracks on Spotify and stream Firecracker HERE

Watch the video for Firecracker HERE