Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

The way Britain was shaped can be seen as to come from many different factors and many differing races’ influences. To suggest otherwise, is at best folly, and at worst downright stupidity, it is the watchword of those who arguably set their agenda out with the clarity of a doughnut covered in barbed wire and with the jam replaced with the taste of bitter almonds. For whilst Britain is an island nation, its outlook and the way it absorbs other cultures, customs and artistic ethos is arguably amongst the most open in the world.

It is with this in mind that it should never be thought of weird or bizarre that music especially is to be heard in perhaps a different light in the country than anything else, the lauding of a musician from another country, no stranger to the music magazines and factory floor traditions, is to be applauded and it doesn’t matter the genre, the strength comes from the appreciation of what they bring to the national music psyche. In tINI’s 2014 album Undo My Heart, once more the shallow defences are breached by a musician from the lands of Scandinavia and the heart strings are plucked, cajoled and culture is seen to have another strand attached to the ever changing, ever flowing sanctity of refining taste.

Adding to the already growing fascination with music that hails from the Scandinavian region, especially that of Britain’s much loved cousin Norway, tINI leaves her mark with a set of songs that cradle the listener and plays with the toe tapping sensation that the feet always demand at some point during a restless day. This young woman’s musical side step diverts between crushing crescendo and the beautiful harmony of the ballad and the pop driven anguish that catapults the heart into the realm of generosity.

It is though the allusion to the ballad that catches the ear, tracks such as You Can’t Have It Both Ways, the album title track of Undo My Heart, Parallel and the album closer of Always mess with the emotions to the point where love over balances and brings the heart and head into conflict. One suggesting in whisper, play me for a fool and love this, the other, beating just as hard, beating with as much intensity, saying keep going, the overload of sentiment is wonderful. With the hidden depth that is felt in the songs Window Shopping and All We Ever Had is Gone, Undo My Heart is as good as its word, it is an album to believe in the sincerity of its artist. Fulfilling, rather enjoyable and overall an experience that adds to the Nordic flavour that lovingly has crept into the country.

Ian D. Hall.