Perhaps best known as half of the duo Azure Ray, Fink is also a member of Art in Manila, O+S, Closeness, and High Up, and has played with or appeared as a guest on records by Bright Eyes, Conor Oberst, Moby, The Faint, Pete Yorn, and others.
The pair signed to Warm Records and released two albums, their self-titled debut in 2001, and Burn and Shiver in 2002, both produced by Eric Bachmann (Archers of Loaf, Crooked Fingers).
[2] After meeting Bright Eyes front man Conor Oberst in Athens, he invited the duo on tour and introduced them to Saddle Creek Records.
[3] Saddle Creek released Azure Ray's November EP later in 2002, as well as their third album, Hold On Love, and its single, "The Drinks We Drank Last Night", in 2003, after which the band went on a six-year hiatus.
In 2009, Taylor announced on KCRW's Morning Becomes Eclectic that Azure Ray was reforming on a semi-permanent basis to play "five or six" shows, then beginning work on a new album.
Later in 2011, Fink began another collaborative project, this time with occasional Of Montreal member Nina Barnes; "after hanging out together in Athens, Georgia", they "decided to form a DJing and performance art duo."
[16] "The band wanted to break from the folksy, indie acoustic sound they’d established... It’s trance-inducing and minimalist... and their haunting voices are still just as lovely as ever" said Paste magazine.
[22] Although she and her husband Todd had talked about starting a band together numerous times since getting married in 2005, they finally began working on a new project in early 2016, eventually taking the name Closeness.
Atwood Magazine reviewed the album positively, calling it "passionate, heartfelt and energetic", "soulful", and "a raw, intimate portrait of turmoil and inner strength".
[27] Billboard premiered a new recording of the title track of their 2003 album, "Hold On Love", reflecting the ways the song had changed after years of playing it live.
[32] Hyperallergic.com said "the narrative strength of the anthology is carried by Adriana Widdoes, Orenda Fink, Johanna Hedva, and Suzanne Scanlon, whose generational accounts of their grandmother, mother, and selves, respectively, are as vivid as they are heartbreaking...