#2

Nick Drake - Pink Moon

     Pink moon is the third and final album released by folk artist Nick Drake.  Nick Drake was scarcely known during his lifetime, often turning down interviews and never performing live, contributing to his lack of success until over a decade later when his name frequently appeared on lists of major influences to famous musicians.  Lonely and reclusive, Nick Drake was said to have given up on life by the time Pink Moon had been released.  The unsuccessful Drake will be soon discovered dead from a overdose of antidepressants in 1974, two years after the release of Pink Moon.  Whether intentional or not, signs leading up to his death strongly suggest suicide.

     Nick Drake's previous albums, Five Leaves Left and Bryter Layter, are entirely different both in composition and emotion.  Instruments such as saxophones, trumpets, and pianos gave life to the air, expressing a much more elaborate, jubilant nature, where as Pink Moon is heavily influenced by fatalism, holding the belief that we work hard only to be faced with an inevitable end.  Pink Moon is comprised of only the pensive vocals of Nick and his guitar, occasionally brightened by a piano.  The stripped-down, gloomy structure only further intensifies the passion and dreariness depicted.
     The album opens with a soft and fluid serenity.  The entire first half of the album is clean and mellow, undisturbed, peaceful, and tranquil.  Notes and chords endlessly spill, cascade out of the guitar and deep, surreal emotion escapes the voice.  This simple make of music seems so natural and beautiful.  The track titled Horn, a minute and a half slow and doleful instrumental piece, marks the album's halfway point.  All songs following this track dramatically change in tone.  The calming, serene setting is blackened by the dismay.This desolation and somberness continues until the album closes with From the Morning, a song that shares the same cleanliness and gentleness as the earlier tracks but shares the same betrayal as the later.
     This album is a masterpiece; the thick, numbing, warm, tumbling gentleness of every note, every word, every sound blankets over you.  Unimaginably comforting, nostalgic.  Pink Moon vividly paints of a delicate, early morning sunrise, ushered in after a breathtaking rain.  The beaming warmth of the sun raises the moisture from the soil, staining the air with the smell of fertility.

Imperial:   14/10
Metric:   10/10