Hailing from Denmark and living in Iceland, Tina Dico is a prodigious talent. I say that upon the evidence of ‘Someone you Love’ alone, it having caught me totally off guard on first hearing. It’s a cut that exhibits Dico’s masterful restraint as a songwriter, her haunting vocals are strong yet tremble with fragility each couplet rippling with regret and loss and the appreciation that the heart will continue to make the same mistakes, but there is hope that you can find someone to help you change. Are underpinned by elegant country tinged backdrops, it’s like the meeting point between the quiet melodrama of Cat Power, and the emotive potency of Sharon Van Etten.
‘Released on Finest Gramophone on August 25th, the inspiration for Tina Dico’s new album Whispers came when she was asked to compose the soundtrack for the Danish film ‘En du elsker.’ Dico’s songwriting found a new direction and focus, which in turn provided the catalyst for Whispers.
Finding a “liberation and honesty in being able to simplify my music”, Dico took five songs from the film and used them as a template for her new album.
“It’s funny how in music – as well as life – it’s all about learning and perfecting our skills, and then afterwards un-learning them in order to more intuitively and emotionally access what’s really important,” she says.
The title track is co-written with Dico’s musical partner Helgi Jonsson. “It’s a dark song about feeling numb, having lost touch with all ideas of beauty and profound love in life. There’s so little room for subtlety and frailty in our lives today. Everyone is screaming….whatever happened to whispering?”
