Artists: Tinlicker
Title: Cold Enough For Snow
Label: PIAS
Released: 16 February
Sounds like: An Indie album effectively masquerading as an electronic album... or the flip?
Review
By consequence or design, a lot of dance music feels made for summer - and that's something we have particular authority on. Even tracks that aren't, find themselves shoe-horned into sets by greying, responsibility-shy DJs, because, "Balearic". Then there are exceptions to the rule.
Half of andhim's German season four-parter, the brooding morose of Kölsch, Ólafur Arnalds' geothermal and aurora borealis-conjuring composits, the isolated bleakness poetically conveyed by Lord Of The Isles and the cold functionality of a producer like Bjarki all come to mind.
Music from artists from geographically colder climates bears the weather-worn impressions of their environment.
As you might already presume from the title, Tinlicker's latest LP, Cold Enough For Snow, also falls into this category.
Operating out of Utrecht, Dutchmen Micha Heyboer and Jordi van Achtoven are known for their diamond-cut productions. The duo have been affiliated with the Anjunadeep stable, but on Cold Enough For Snow, they wind up on PIAS.
Featured artist Julia Church appears twice, including on the album opener Glasshouse, where she displays a haunting quality. Her yearning voice and arresting lyrics entangle with Tinlicker's melodic piano arps.
The emotion is edged further still on the next track, Staring Down Sunset. Perhaps the album's most notable guest, Editors frontman Tom Smith, adds a world-weighted sense of duty to This Life. On it, he delivers a performance that Chris Martin or Brandon Flowers would appreciate.
In fact, on several occasions, the vocalists can be mistaken for more household names, but stand up on their own merit. There's enough here to appeal to Indie music fans, as much as those of synthesised music.
Certainly, it feels as though the album would work less well, had it been either 100 per cent instrumental or purely lyric-led.
Some tracks only prick the senses, while others commit headlong to the dancefloor. There are moments of unashamed Electro-Pop (such as Nothing To Lose feat Circa Waves or Madeon-like Blowfish) and head-rushing euphoria (Revolution, In Your Eyes).
Neither extreme of a well-balanced album blunts the overall impact.
Indeed, it will leave you with a warm, fuzzy feeling that'll thaw you from the inside out. The blizzard has passed and the snowfall is melting. Brighter days are coming. Roll on summer.
Highlights: Staring Down Sunset, Blowfish, This Life, Revolution
Cold Enough For Snow is out now. BUY HERE
Enjoy this? Read Lissy's review of Jordan Peak's One Of A Kind from January.
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