Artist: Kovač, Tinkara
Label: Dallas Records
Release: 2007
We’ve waited (way too) long for the new Tinkara Kovač record, and right now it feels like the wait wasn’t worth it. Aqa is a split-personality album – roughly half of it is super radio-friendly, while the other half is a bit more experimental, and its value will only show in a few years’ time. But since that first half sounds a lot like the album O-Range, and repeating herself isn’t something we’re used to from Tinkara… and since there probably won’t be another record for a few years, Tinkara seems to be stuck in some kind of quo vadis limbo.
And of course I can also add that back when the album was just starting to take shape, and for a good year before that, I looked after Tinkara at her label. I got to know her well enough in that time to know she’s capable of so much, much more. Aqa promised more back then, too! From a brilliant concept and one-of-a-kind ideas, we end up with a merely average record?!
The instrumental intro sets the tone for the album: unpredictable, yet extremely catchy experimentalism. Worldache is one of those songs where Tinkara proves herself above all as an ever-better songwriter, still an outstanding performer, but the song still lacks some punch, or maybe some world-weary anger?! Ujeti svet starts off lively, but the mix of Slovenian and English isn’t the most successful, and some of the rhymes feel a bit forced anyway.
One of the undisputed highlights of the album is definitely She, a mellow track with vocal bravura throughout the chorus, with a delicate flute and electric guitar in the background, and really full-bodied and backed by a seriously interesting lyric. If this song doesn’t win you over, nothing will. Really, nothing!!!
Freedom is entirely Tinkara’s own “creation” and promises a lot at first, mostly thanks to the cracked voice in the storytelling, but the whole thing ends up feeling too lukewarm and unconvincing. Nektar is entirely the work of the increasingly recognizable Peter Dekleva, and what impresses most is its superb instrumental structure, which you could call cosmopolitan pop, and the lyric is also very different from the rest of what we hear on the album. The little instrumental accents are fascinating too, but sadly there aren’t enough of them to make the song perfect!
Down Under is a cover of a well-known song that differs quite a bit from the original, is somewhat more minimalist instrumentally, and lacks some punch and power. The album also includes a cover of Faeton by the cult band Na lepem prijazni, featuring the instantly recognizable Andrej Trobentar. The song is different, interesting, full of masterful, filigree instrumental touches, and unpredictably dynamic the whole way through. Hijene was also created by Dekleva; the acoustic intro recalls the now-forgotten mid-’90s hit ’74-’75, and later the song gets more colorful and, above all, more dynamic. The instrumental base itself is simple and straightforward, but it’s strung with plenty of interesting elements that spice it up.
Movyda, mostly because of its goofy chorus, falls into the category of “easily overlooked,” Out of my suitcase never comes to life and shines in full glory, Kamorkoli greš picks up the tempo a bit, but the damage was already done, Me ni is short and punchy, but lyrically unconvincing and empty, and the closing Wolf’s Eyelash just rounds off a rather pale whole.
The big guest, Ian Anderson, who we’d waited on for so long?! Sadly, we don’t hear his unmistakable voice. The flute? Over the past few years Tinkara has taught herself Anderson’s style of playing, so she could easily fool listeners into thinking she isn’t the only one playing flute on the songs She and Me. After so many collaborations and shared performances, I expected more!
Tinkara used to be seen as one of those musicians who’s at least one step ahead of the Slovenian music scene. Now she seems to have one foot in an uncertain future and the other in a safe past. As a songwriter she’s still maturing, but sadly her excellent ideas stay at the concept stage. Her seventh album already seems, sadly, to be her weakest, and I wonder where the road will take Tinkara next. Some nasty types say it’s all downhill from here, but I believe Tinkara Kovač still has her best in store for us.
It’s probably just a question of time before she shakes off all the shackles and shows her true musical power! Everything she’s done so far is just flashes!
Lineup
Tinkara Kovač -flute, vocals, electric intro & outro guitar
WITH GUESTS:
Peter Dekleva – electric guitar
Marko Stropnik – electric guitar
Andrea F – electric guitar
Luka Jamnik – keyboards
Jure Rozman – drums & percussion
Denis Scher – bass guitar
Jani Hace – bass guitar
Marko Oblak Ročko – bass guitar
Peter Dekleva – acoustic guitar
Teo Kahrimanović – keyboards
Peter Dekleva – keyboards
Rok Lopatič – keyboards
Luka Jamnik – keyboards
Ranko Kladnik – keyboards
Denis Scher – keyboards
Andrea F – loops & samples
Peter Dekleva – clean electric guitar
Paul Millns – grand piano
Rok Lopatič – grand piano
Ian Anderson – flute
Peter Dekleva – programming
Luka Jamnik – programming
Peter Dekleva – backing vocals
Rok Lopatič – backing vocals
Vojko Aleksič – guitars, programming
David Jarh – trumpet
Andrej Trobentar – vocals
Daniel Matič – guitars
Goran Moskowsky – percussion
Aleksander Rutar – baritone saxophone
Marko Stropnik – solo guitar
Marino Legovič – electric piano
Production
Andrea F & Rok Lopatič
Tracklist
1. AQaSCAPE
2. WORLDACHE
3. UJETI SVET
4. SHE
5. FREEDOM
6. NEKTAR
7. DOWN UNDER
8. HIJENE
9. FAETON
10. MOVYDA
11. OUT OF MY SUITCASE
12. KAMORKOLI GREŠ
13. ME NI
14. WOLF’S EYELASH
