Composer, musician and vocalist Beret Finken brings her rich and soulful sound from Southern Minnesota. Beret Finken is the kind of artist that really emphasizes the graceful blend of ethereal sounding melodies with a striking and exquisite vocal tone. and Beret Finken has the kind of voice that can instantly capture your attention, solely for its purity. Beret Finken has crafted her vocal range but ensures that the steadiness and overall equilibrium of her sound stay consistent. Her music is very soft and collected, organized in a way that appears as delicate, yet incredibly resilient.
Beret Finken released her song "Until You Come Back Home", and the track effortlessly displays that pure energy we mentioned earlier. "Until You Come Back Home" was written for her husband, who is currently serving in the US military, and it holds such a gravity. Her persona in the track is captured in such a creamy and texturized way, yet still washes listeners with a sense of tranquillity.
There are many moments throughout "Until You Come Back Home" where you'll feel overwhelmed by the voice of Beret Finken, mainly at parts where she showcases the top of her vocal range. The storyline of her song requires more of an attentive listening experience, yet is most definitely worth it. The emotionality that Beret Finken is capable of capturing within her vocal dynamics is stunning, and an event that you must experience for yourself as a listener. "Until You Come Back Home" would be the type of song you'd add to your relaxation playlist (which we know we must all have, or at least should have). We're waiting to see what Beret Finken will put out next for listeners because we can already imagine the sentiment it will hold.
Check out "Until You Come Back Home" here.
Hey, Beret Finken! We appreciate the time to talk with you about “Until You Come Back Home”! As a track that holds a lot of sentimental value to you, did you find it quite easy to manifest the emotionally driven single?
I wrote “Until You Come Back Home” for my husband (then boyfriend) while he was down in Georgia for U.S. Army Basic Training. We hadn’t seen or spoken to one another in over two months, save for the letters we wrote - we wrote one another every day that he was gone. Those letters were my solace then. When you aren’t able to sit in the same space as the person you love for days, weeks, months at a time; hold his hand, hear his voice, have a real-time conversation, that takes its toll on a person’s patience. I went through many emotional ups and downs in those weeks, and all I had were his letters to reassure me of his continued love and dedication to me. To put my full trust in those written words was hard, not because I doubted him, but because I doubted myself and my own ability to cope with the given situation. Could I really do this Military life thing? It was a battle constantly raging inside my head, and I didn’t know what to do with those feelings. But, deep down, I knew one thing for certain: I love him. That became my focus. Not just his love and dedication for me, but also my love and dedication for him. I needed him to know that my confidence was unwavering, and I also needed to reassure myself, in a way, that I could do this. That’s how this song was born. Its message is simple, yet powerful. I knew almost immediately what I wanted to say, and the whole thing was written and recorded in only two days. It’s amazing what inspiration and emotional drive can do in music.
The focus of the song was most definitely the displayed vocal range on your end. How would you say you’ve gone about refining your overall vocal tones up to this point in your music career?
My whole life, I have loved singing. Both my parents are musical, so it’s what I was born into. When I was younger, probably around ten or eleven, it was my dream to sing the part of Christine from The Phantom of the Opera on a real stage one day. However, this was not to be. In high school, I learned that I did not have natural vibrato. I got it into my head that I couldn’t be a “good” singer if I didn’t have it, and I gave in to jealousy and constant comparison to my peers. My childhood best friend, who I shared nearly every interest with, had the most angelic, mature-sounding voice you could imagine for a girl our age. I struggled for years coming to terms with the fact that I would never sound like her; that I would never live my dream of playing the role of Christine on the big stage. For a long time, I actually hated my voice - it had failed me desperately. At least, that’s what I believed. But, around the time of graduation, one of my teachers said something to me that I will never forget: “Music is an art, it’s not a competition. Great equals great, and you are great! Believe that with every ounce of your soul.” That’s when it hit me: I don’t have to sound like anyone else. I sound like me, and that is beautiful. The whole reason I do music in the first place is because I love it and my life would not be the same without it. That’s what matters. From then on, I invested as much into developing my own sound as I possibly could. I took full advantage of the vocal techniques we learned in college choirs, from breath support to healthy singing to proper diction, and really took the time to get to know my voice; my strengths, weaknesses, vocal and dynamic ranges, chest voice, head voice, what sounds good, what doesn’t, and the nuances that are completely unique to me. I learned to truly love my sound. Since then, I have written and recorded a lot of original music, and have also performed in public a number of times. Consistently using my voice and expanding my capabilities in this way is what has gotten me where I am today as a vocalist. No, I still don’t sound like a Broadway singer. I never will. But the voice I had in high school is almost incomparable to the voice I have now in terms of development, and I am proud of that.
We felt that the angelic soundings you were able to shed light on in “Until You Come Back Home” really emphasize the ethereal and transcending experience the song imparts. Was the choice of production a methodical process for you, or was it easy to match the production with your vision for the song?
From the beginning, I wanted this song to sound soft, sweet, and intimate; as if it were only my husband and I alone and I were speaking - almost whispering - gently to him. Knowing my voice, I know that these “ethereal” and “angelic” textures, as you described them, are my particular strengths, so matching my tone with my vision for the song was pretty easy to do vocally. This is the type of singing I work towards most often in my music.
When the time comes for more releases from you, are you planning on staying consistent with the soundings in “Until You Come Back Home”, or going a different way with the atmosphere of the song?
I really like the direction I went with my sound in “Until You Come Back Home.” I tend to lean towards simplicity and minimalism in my compositions, and will most likely continue to write in this style, at least partially. I also recorded a cover of Billy Joel’s “And So It Goes” in this style, which you can find on my BandCamp and SoundCloud. However, I would like to branch out more with my sound. You wouldn’t be able to tell from the tone of this piece, but I am actually drawn to darker, more fantastical and adventurous atmospheres and themes found in TV, film, video games, etc., and am actually trying to break into video game composition myself. Some of the most significant influences of note on my musical style in these genres, for reference, have been Studio Ghibli films (Spirited Away, in particular), Avatar: The Last Airbender (animated series), Journey (video game), Mushishi (Japanese anime), Your Name (animated film), and Fe (video game). These are the types of projects I would be thrilled to find myself working on in the future. I have also always had a strong connection to my Scandinavian heritage when it comes to music, and hints of Nordic folk music traditions often creep into my compositions. My original song “Reven (The Fox)” - which you can also hear on my SoundCloud - is based on these traditions and is closer to the direction I would like to go with my sound. So, to make a long story short, I plan on continuing to write music in a similar style to “Until You Come Back Home.” But I am also going to explore new sounds.
We’re sincerely happy that your latest song came across our radar here at BuzzMusic. You’re definitely instilling a sense of grace with your voice, and we hope there are more singles from you to come! Looking back as a final thought, what are some ways you can think “Until You Come Back Home” helped you grow, both personally and artistically?
I think “Until You Come Back Home” helped me grow in a lot of ways. Personally, it helped me get through my husband’s time away for Army training, and I have grown and changed for the better as a person since then. As a Military family, deployments will be an inevitable part of life for us in the future, and it is possible that my husband could be gone for up to a year or more at a time each deployment. With the two of us already having experienced time apart in this way, we are both comforted knowing that our relationship can endure the separation and come out stronger for it in the end. And this song is a powerful reminder for us of that. Artistically, this song was the first time I ever attempted to record anything “professionally.” I was using a new instrument library, a new mic, and recording in a completely new space - my roommates and I had moved into our apartment only a few months prior to this. Everything was different, but the quality of this recording turned out far greater than anything I had produced in the past, and it felt as if the world of music were gracing me with a whole new realm of possibilities. It was incredibly inspiring, actually. A lot has happened in my life since I wrote this song, including getting married and becoming a mother, and I have needed to take a step back from music for a while. But I have many exciting things planned for the future of my music and am looking forward to seeing where it leads me in the next few years!