Emmett Tinley
Emmett Tinley is a singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist who was born in the United States (Chicago), but raised in Ireland. He has travelled extensively and lived in many different places, including Amsterdam, Swords, near Dublin and Arhus in Denmark. He likes cities which inspire him as a songwriter, some of his favourites being Paris, New York and Copenhagen.
Tinley used to be the frontman of a folk/indie band, The Prayer Boat, formed in Blessington, County Wicklow, who although not officially disbanded, haven't worked together for several years. Before becoming a full-time musician, Tinley completed the first year of a degree course at Dublin Institute of Technology where he studied electronics and telecommunications.
The Prayer Boat released two albums which were critically acclaimed by many highly-respected music journals such as Melody Maker, NME and Billboard Magazine (who named The Prayer Boat's second album, Polichinelle as their album of the year), but despite this, the albums were relatively unsuccessful.
Tinley has a deeply heartfelt tenor voice which The Irish Independent says, 'possesses a range that would make opera singers weep', and he often uses falsetto. His voice has been likened to that of Jeff Buckley, Thom Yorke, Chris Martin of Coldplay and Fran Healy of Travis but many people see it as unique. The Sunday Tribune describe Tinley's voice as 'a lovely reedy thing that is highly ambiguous' and he manages to use it to express a range of deep emotions. Tinley has been praised for being able to write and perform beautifully lush melancholy music without being self-indulgently morose as are many modern songwriters.
Tinley released his first solo album, Attic Faith, on Atlantic Records on 15 April 2005 under the management of Victor Van Vugt, an award-winning music producer and engineer who has worked with many artists such as Nick Cave. After twelve years as frontman with The Prayer Boat, Tinley was eager to try something different in his life and music. Having lived in Holland, Denmark and the United States, in 2001 he settled once again in Denmark where he began working with several jazz musicians, bassist Martin Spure, drummer Nikolaj Bundvig and pianist Allin Bang. After a few months, Dutch guitarist Marijn Slager joined the others. Tinley's brother, Patrick, a member of The Prayer Boat, also plays Spanish guitar on Attic Faith. The album was recorded in New York, Dublin and London.
Tinley's choice of the name Attic Faith for his album is interesting. He lived for a period in an attic in Amsterdam and was going through a phase where he felt he was the only person who believed in his music and had faith in it. He was not performing much at the time and when he did do gigs, fewer and fewer people were coming to them. However, he never gave up his belief that the songs he had written were good and worth preserving, which was what originally gave him the idea of the name Attic Faith for his album. The fact that the expression also means 'a faith which is sacred and can never be defeated', made the name seem particularly fitting to Tinley's profound thinking.
Attic Faith has received excellent reviews from critics in journals such as The Irish Times, The Sunday Tribune and The Irish Independent who have described Tinley's music as 'beautifully crafted', 'truly sublime' and 'like hot chocolate on a winter's day.'
It remains to be seen whether Emmett Tinley will succeed in the highly commercial music industry.