Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10
The sound of delicate fury was already apparent with Tinlin’s album Shade of the Shadows, the allusion set out by brothers Rolf and Alex to the divine soul that stirs the emotions in the same vein of the likes of Del Amitri and Simon and Garfunkel, a sense of perfect beginnings for the band.
The shadows though are there though to always be dispelled, to have the allusion cracked and the legend enhanced, the shadows are only there to hide behind after all and to come out from the tentative start into fully flourished group, to make the shadows bathe in sunlight, you have to go into the realms of a mood which is Strangely Blue.
Tinlin’s Strangely Blue delves between many layers, none the least with that one eye on the work of America’s prime folk coupling Simon and Garfunkel and the enhancements that are all too evident as being part of a pair and the absolute trust that is needed between two people with nobody, no shadow, to hide behind.
The layers of lyric writing are uncomplicated but brutally handsome, they tear at the soul with fine precision and the ache they leave behind in their crafted sorrow, even in the fairly upbeat Redhead, is one that is delicious and surprisingly charming.
Unlike Shade of the Shadows, there is a greater sense of urgency in the messages being delivered on the new album, the music may be laid back, they may play with the idea of sleepy peaceful lullabies drowning out the sounds of a world of the ridiculous and unreasonable but once you close your eyes and let the natural ambience flow, the sense of total commitment to instruction, to placing a wish before you in which happiness and forethought are king, is complete.
Tracks such as the aforementioned Redhead, Snowblind, You Wouldn’t Approve and Hold Me Closer thrust themselves into the day and capture the sentiment and pure emotion that Tinlin offer their listeners.
Strangely Blue is marvellous album in which to carry on the great work by Alex and Rolf Tinlin, one that doesn’t disappoint at all.
Ian D. Hall