Colin Rink
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Colin Rink

Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada

Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada
Band Folk Rock

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"The Vancouver Province"

"This Vancouver singer-songwriter makes a lot of noise - that is, of the enticing psychadelic folk kind - when he gets into his performing headspace with just him, an acoustic guitar and a harmonica. With a new independantly released album, the lad's out gigging. This show finds him in the company of Waiting for Sunday and Foot Traffic Band."

Thursday, August 7th, 2009 - Stuart Derdeyn


"Bury Me Deep in the Ground"

If you have to choose a great musician to study as a basis for your art, who would it be? While most connoisseurs would probably mention a Beetle or Stones member, perhaps a guitar god or a pop presence, there is still a good handful left who would choose the living legend of alien-folk blues, Bob Dylan. There are few better to apprentice under, with Dylan’s songs perhaps creating more fame for others than himself, he is truly a bard’s musician. The level of greatness is so high, that it is often overlooked by the common listener, and that is what makes it good enough to be great. Dylan rode the wave of a generation where power suddenly displaced from institutions to bare-foot hippy kids on college campuses with his folk style the organic anthem of peace and understanding. Colin Rink’s Bury Me Deep in the Ground may be riding a similar wave of time, a resonance with the potential to inspire a new generation. His sound advice, down to earth sensibility, truthful lyrics, and heartfelt stories resonate with the maladies currently being felt by millions as they begin to cope with troubles that most of us only heard our grandparents speak of. The picture of the earthquake rift on the back of the album, namesake of the 1st song, SF Earthquake of 1906, although historical, is brought to the forefront – Rink is hinting everywhere that history will repeat itself. He does this without ever being allegorical or some doomsayer, but rather as an honest precaution against what we should already be prepared for, but all seem to forget with time. This album makes one uncomfortable in the best way. The problems being examined by Rink in the song It’s A Comin’ stretches from the personal to the global, presenting the choice of morality on all levels at once, challenging you to find the right way without ever revealing an agenda or hidden intention, but rather a stern warning on an apocalyptic future where the survivors will be determined by the fate of their decisions. It is neither negative nor positive. There are references to God, though never any alignment to a specific dogma. It is refreshing to hear such bipartisan wisdom that holds such high respect for science and spirituality alike, boiling it down to common sense. This is the sort of down to earth reality good folk music should always have.


I’ve got to admit, I am being easier on Colin then I would be on most singers, because he’s a songwriter with a guitar and a harmonica on a neck rack. His singing, at times, is a form of folk that, in its inspired unpolished truth, the soaring diphthongs slide steps sharp or flat in a sort of neo-blues, swaying to incredibly insightful brilliant lyrics, in reminiscence of artists spanning the last century –with that sort of genius goes technical forgiveness. In fact, I never want him to sound perfectly on pitch, it just wouldn’t be right. One wishes for more sustained power in note resolution perhaps; however it is in the trembling moments, the bold cries, the intense visions of the future, the rambling frets over humanity, the wisdom of lifetimes he didn’t live but salvages nonetheless in song, that we see the real raw expression of a true artist. His emphasis on historical lore and current society make these potentially legendary lyrics. It is easy to imagine the meaning of these songs holding for decades to come, being covered by various pop-artists perhaps, all along with Rink at the core, giving truth to lyrics in an age of pseudo-texting emoticons and plastic writing. Just like Bob Dylan in the early 60’s, it seems Colin Rink is divining the future out for those wise enough to listen. His knowledge of the past is so vivid that the future has become clear in metaphor. “1984 is comin,’ … at least in the movies it was so clear… Sadness is comin,’ it’s gonna make the depression of the 30s look like a picnic. These Godly powers are gonna make you sick.” These lyrics transcend time and culture. And indeed, it does make me sick as thoughts of my grandparents tales of the depression coupled with the famine and genocide of other places in the world, this made me think that perhaps the perpetual war in Orwell’s classic has been here all along. Of course, George didn’t count on telecommunication being available to the masses for creative expression and it seems he had little faith in humanity or anything otherwise in his dystopia. Rink, on the other hand, seems the society for what it is: everything. There are places now like 1984, there are places where these “global” ailments aren’t even noticeable and things continue on as they have for thousands of years, yet all these are rapidly becoming homogenized despite antiquity. Rink has kept me up well past the dawn thinking about his visions of the world. It is too early to call Colin a prophet, or anything of the sort, however I for one am grateful that striving artists such as he remind us of these epic tragedy so that some day we may live to see safer happier lives in the future and that we live in places great enough that we may freely hear such poetry. Bury your mind deep in his lyrics so you won’t end up in the ground when the time comes, be it in natural disaster or love gone awry, this is music for the wise, ways to live and balance life.


Julian Gorman
- Julian Gorman


Discography

Full length Debut Album - "Bury Me Deep in the Ground"

Photos

Bio

Colin Rink is a folk musician in the deepest, truest sense of the word. His trembling portraits of humanity conjure up the kind of folk music that speaks to a part of everyone’s soul; the part that has seen struggle, and learned from it.

His musical career began when he scraped together enough money to buy himself an acoustic guitar, and this hard-work ethic shows through in every note he’s played since. Rink’s charismatic voice hints at a life of odd jobs, cross-country travels, and long nights piecing together a living with a guitar, a harmonica, and a head full of stories.

While Vancouver turns its ears to a new voice rising up from its bars and nightclubs, Colin Rink continues to impress new listeners across the country with the release of his debut album, “Bury me Deep In The Ground.” This album makes it very clear what Colin Rink has been doing for the last decade or so – honing his skill with an impressive breadth of musical understanding and life experience. Then again, if you’re one of the growing number of fans who have seen him perform in countless venues across his hometown of Vancouver, you probably already know this.

Rink’s humble beginnings have led to a compelling honesty in his music that resounds with critics and listeners alike. A writer from Reviewyou.com gushed that his “heartfelt stories” possess “a resonance with the potential to inspire a new generation,” much like the iconic Bob Dylan did in his day. “It seems Colin Rink is divining the future out for those wise enough to listen,” he continues, referring to songs like “It’s a Comin,” in which Rink prophesizes that “Terror is comin’/ It will be swift/ Upon the hills of green/ These perpetrators will not be seen.” These dark tales, set to an unpretentious backing of acoustic guitar and harmonica, echo the fears of a generation raised among constant predictions of global crisis.

In 2008, he recorded his first live album at the Yale Jazz Club in downtown Vancouver, marking a significant milestone for Rink as an accomplished singer/songwriter. His diversity as an artist became apparent when, later that year, one of his paintings was featured in the Port Moody City Hall as part of a professional exhibit featuring Canadian artists. This diversity has been important in securing Colin Rink’s status as a multitalented creator of independent works. Whether he’s busking, painting, podcasting, gracing the pages of Canadian Musician magazine, or playing gigs, his work manages to maintain an unpolished honesty that brings this creative drive to an accessible and inspiring level.

"This Vancouver singer-songwriter makes a lot of noise - that is, of the enticing psychadelic folk kind,” wrote Stuart Derdeyn in a recent article in The Vancouver Province. If you’re itching to hear the talented young man in person, he’ll be packing up this noise and embarking on a cross-Canada tour beginning in December of 2009.

What people are saying about Colin Rink:

"[i]ncredibly insightful brilliant lyrics ... Bury Me Deep in the Ground may be riding a similar wave of time, a resonance with the potential to inspire a new generation. "
~ Julian Gorman

"Rink’s robust conduct, down to dirt sensibility, true to life lyrics, and attach stories resonate with the maladies currently being felt close to millions" ~ You Review (August 18th, 2009)

"Colin Rink represent[s] acts that are building ... and rising up through the ranks of Vancouver’s music community. " ~ Eagle Pslams, Canadian Musician (September / October 2009 issue)

For bookings or further general information, please contact Colin Rink, at colin.rink@gmail.com or visit his website at www.colinrinkmusic.com