Liverpool Sound & Vision

Talinka, Rainbow Over Kolonaki. Album Review.

https://www.liverpoolsoundandvision.co.uk/

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

Evocative by name, evocative by nature…it is perhaps the closest any of us will get to the feeling of being haunted by something we cannot put our finger on, that we are encouraged to understand the aura of our mood change, to question the cold touch of mystery as its sends tingles up and down our spine, and the acknowledgement that the quality of what we have gleaned, been shown a fraction of its power, resides with us long after the suggestion of the evocative may have faded.

Such feelings are to be held tightly, to remind us that no matter where we felt them, they are now forever engrained into our bones, touch, sight, taste, the static surroundings of aural perception, all must be savoured, and it is to the latest album by Talinka, Rainbow Over Kolonaki, that the music is infused by the aromatic ambience of scented memory.

The album itself is the result of creating the exploration of the four driven personalities and music of the players at hand, and by setting the scene of Jenny Bliss, Yaron Stavi, Gilas Atzmon and the special resonance that resides in Tali, the music is not only haunting, it lingers in the melancholic heart of poignant memorabilia, of being unforgettable and recurring in the mind long after you have moved on with your day.

There is almost a feeling of sacred bonds being forged as tracks such as If I Should Love You, I’m A Fool To Want You, Time Runs Out, the capturing of melody that was in itself evocative when presented by the alluring presence of Simon and Garfunkel, Scarborough Fair and the driving home of expertise in When Apollo Smiles. Those forged ties between musician and listener are not easy to break, they are wrapped in mutual pleasure and sincerity of belief and as the Rainbow Over Kolonaki becomes more focused, so too does the promise of the ancients, that whilst the music plays, the listener shall feel moved.

An album of beauty, no matter which way it is looked at, strident, powerful, and one that preoccupies perfectly. Rainbow Over Kolonaki inhabits mood with authenticity and delight.

Talinka’s Rainbow Over Kolonaki is out now and available from Fanfare Records.

Ian D. Hall

Fatea

http://www.fatea-records.co.uk/

Talinka
Album: Rainbow Over Kolonaki
Label: Fanfare
Tracks: 10
Website: http://www.talinka.live

Talinka are international jazz musician Gilad Atzmon, vocalists Tali Atzmon and Jenny Bliss with Yaron Stavi on Bass. Together they whip up an aromatic, heady mix of the kind of vocal jazz you might hear in a fever dream sequence filmed in a North African Cafe. This is exotic otherworldly music with one foot in 50s small band jazz, one in slightly hazy folk rock and a toe in classical music. It is all about atmosphere, drawing pictures and conjuring a smile in the listener.

"Rainbow over Kolonaki" opening with bird song and atmospheric Church bells like early 70s Pink Floyd, resolves into saucy European jazz with Jenny Bliss Bennett's rich violin and a chorus of reed instruments from Gilad Atzmon. Gilad is a master on the saxophone, his playing and Tali's warm vocals recall 70s Gong, not the stoned ramblings of Daevid Allen, but the hypnotic jazz fusion they did so well. "If I Should Lose You" a jazz standard is given a stripped back reading, Tali's vocal accompanied by Gilad's saxophone initally giving the song a naked minimal Norma Winstone quality. The song builds with some captivating double tracked vocals, spirited saxophone and solid bass. This is proper torch song territory. The beauty of Talinka is that you listen to a track once and you are captivated by Gilad's spirited Jan Garbarek flavoured saxophone, you listen again and its all about Tali's vocal, or Jenny's romantic violin or the long notes of Yaron's bass. You can hear two or three different albums in just one track. "She Moved Through The Fair" with vocals shared between Jenny and Tali is a stunning mystical journey, the two voices compliment each other perfectly. A lightly picked guitar, Billy Pod's gentle percussion and the voices giving a sparkling folk jazz air to proceedings.

Gilad's playing adds a mystical pan pipes quality. Talinka's mystical version fits the mood perfectly for a song essentially about conversing with the dead. Like Mishaped Pearls and Bird In The Belly, Talinka take that freewheeling, genre crossing sense of early 70s Folk tinged music and run with it. Opening with an atmospheric piano florish, "I'm A Fool To Want You" by Frank Sinatra, is pure smoky jazz. Tali's sultry vocal is low, pure Holiday or Lee, with overtones of "Don't Smoke In Bed" and some of Mary Coughlan's sassy roar.

Ross Stanley's piano playing and solo against Yaron Stavi's bass is just pure class on this track and throughout the album. With Gilad's atmospheric accordion opening and the very english vocals, Talinka's version of traditional "Greensleeves" is both stately and a song of contrasts. Again the two vocalists compliment each other beautifully. "Perdita" is another stripped back duet between Tali and Gilad that has the dry minimalist feel of Norma Winstone, building with both edgy vocals and contrasting bass clarinet and saxophone. Yaron's bass anchors the piece, while the two soloists dance and soar. "Time Runs Out" is a beautiful folk song, cool in feel and tempo with superb vocals and a sophisticated cafe feel. Talinka's version of "Scarborough Fair" is slow and stately, the airy a capella opening is a delight, contrasting with the dancing band section which recalls the Gotan Project. "When Apollo Smiles" is a wonderful lullaby, a duet, a bright sixties TV show theme, with more than a slight wiff of "White Horses" by Jackie. "I'll Be Seeing You" is a wonderfully woozy cafe jazz song, Tali is in fine voice and Gilad's Saxophone is to die for with big breathy Stan Getz notes over Stanley's liquid runs on the piano keys.

You can almost hear the bar staff putting up the chairs on tables, shining glasses and blowing out candles at the end of the night as the band plays their final number. Pretty much perfect and this is just album number two.

Marc Higgins

To buy Talinka CD or Download version , click here

Watch video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VAuW93iDE8U