Author: Aleš Podbrežnik
Artist: Tilen
Label: Dallas Records
Released: 2013
Running time: 25:14
Rating: 2/5
Yet another album that slipped past its official release date. If it made it to the editorial office, it’s only right we give it some attention. Tilen Šinko. A young musician, a singer, and he can handle several instruments too! He’s putting out a studio debut and joining the ranks of Slovenian singer-songwriters. A few seasoned names play on the album »Nekje med zemljo in nebom«, people who shape, or used to shape, plenty of »medium-wave« stories that radio frequencies embraced across the board. Besides veterans Janez Zmazek and Aleš Klinar, the mix and mastering were handled by Franci Zabukovec, a top-notch guitarist in his own right.
With that info, expectations for the material jump too. Considering that Janez Zmazek helped Tilen pull this thing together in a big way, from shaping the arrangements to choosing some of the musical solutions in the compositions, and even producing the album, it’s clear we’re dealing with eight tracks built compactly. With a clearly worked-out head and tail. Verse – chorus (twice in a row), »mid-eight« passage and a repeat of the chorus. Short, punchy, trivial. No Einstein required.
The album is led by mid-tempo tracks with main motifs built on cycling through a few chords. So the record is completely predictable musically, and in the lyrics and rhymes you can guess early on how each story on the album will play out. Even though the production sounds organic, easy on the ears and warm, what bugs me most about this album is the feeling of naivety. An album of »ring-a-ring-o’-roses« ditties, where it’s hard to pick out any real authenticity in how the verses are delivered. The messages feel shallow and naive, and you sense Tilen would rather stroll through heavenly illusions than be tied down to the firm, real ground of truth. Both musically and in the lyrics.
The melodies lean toward »country« tunes, »heartland rock«. In the song »Ko doživiš« it’s once again announced to all and sundry that here in Slovenia we’re thoroughly in the grip of the »rumble« of Balkan rhythms, especially at parties, public or private. So. There’s nothing creatively authentic to be felt here, nothing Tilen could build on right now to develop a style and expressive charisma of his own.
There are two possible answers. Either the guy wants his ideas to land a successful commercial breakthrough into the facade of the Slovenian »mainstream«, which is mission impossible with »creative geniuses« like Kingston, Modrijani and the like dominating (read: sadly, Tilen has gone about this mission from the wrong end), or he’ll have to eat a few more helpings of žganci to grow into a tangible, incisive artist who can develop the right balance between musical accessibility (which he surely wants) and delivering verses in a way that grabs you instantly with their authenticity and realness. The vocals on this debut sadly don’t develop any commanding characteristics. They come across watered down through the fragility and thinness of the vocal lines, which leaves behind a thankless feeling of naivety, even a tearful vibe to the whole record.
Friendly, painless, trivially solvable little ditties that’ll entertain little girls and the less demanding Slovenian plebs, who’d rather go to a Helena Blagne concert than an Avtomobili one. The record is aimed first and foremost at radio airwaves, of course. Light little music, pop-wise neatly polished, which not even Zmazek’s »famous guitar touch« can disguise. Nothing that rises above. Maybe this album would have caught fire back in the days when »Debele dekl’ce« reigned, but not today, unless he were building his name on the scene in the carefree indifference of the eighties (in the league of Vili Resnik and co…).
Line-up
Tilen Šinko – vocals
Janez Zmazek – guitar
Aleš Klinar – keyboards, bass guitar, drums
GUEST MUSICIAN:
Matic Oražem – backing vocals
Production
Janez Zmazek
Track list
1. Ne izdaj me
2. Ostala si v spominu
3. Nekje med zemljo in nebesi
4. Ko doživiš
5. Blizu sem
6. Tam nekje
7. Mesto spi
8. Zakaj
