TANYC | Tanyc

“Your smile is a little brighter than mine” … Hmm, hard to believe when listening to this album. It seems as if TANYC had this album, which will make every audiophile sound lover send these tunes through their ears for months, up her sleeve. Here are as many things to discover as they have been put into and perhaps, even more.
The lead single “Smile” sets the path that TANYC is taking here on her solo debut, but the songs all stand for themselves. “Shoot”, for example, is reminiscent of British-influenced Shoegaze-Pop and can hardly be compared stylistically with “Smile”, requiring the listener to be more sensitive and patient. Comparisons of any kind can be considered inadmissible, but they can hardly be avoided with an artist like TANYC and will perhaps – or certainly – pop up in your head here and there. Unintentionally and out of nowhere, but that’s how the head functions, you can take these associations as points of reference, if you want to … how TANYC’s head functions, however, nobody knows really.
But of course, it does work and is beautiful if you wanted to figure that out through this album. “Hideaway” is just as much a so-called hit as “Smile” and you might be starting to think a little more intensely about what you might be dealing with here. Something very big, that is out of the question. No doubt this entire album is for the pure souls as it is itself an equally pure and powerful statement of artistic integrity. “Loops on Fire” melts you down as you hold onto the task of finding words, let alone coherent thoughts in contrast to the wonderfully coherent emotional world, to describe the construct. Only to hear “Beautiful”. Didn’t Frank Zappa once say that talking about music is like dancing about architecture?
TANYC is anything but a stranger. As a part of the duo CAMA, she has long ago celebrated major successes. Even when you hear the lush arrangement of “Again” and the epic Whammy guitar solo, you soon realize that there is a whole bunch of noble musicians at work here. The exceptional violinist Tom Norris usually makes his skills available to the London Symphony Orchestra and the Israeli drummer and percussionist Nir Zidkyahu has already refined John Mayer’s debut. They are just as much a part of this vision as the German guitarist Kalle Wallner, who has been very successful with his band RPWL for more than twenty years.
But this voice sits enthroned above all of it. Sometimes crystal clear and angelic, sometimes vintage soul, sometimes femme fatale; it is not an easy task to give this voice a clear adjective and it would not be the right approach to an artistic vision that big. The same applies to the albums sorting to a genre. The algorithms can easily do this, but let’s rather have the listeners do it. It is quite certain, that listeners of this album will not dwell on such trivialities. The sacral character of a song like “Labyrinth” or the opulent outro of “This Dream” represents a bright light of this time, TANYC could easily have released a pure vocal work. The crowning, meditative conclusion of this album, “Over and Over”, proves that. But power in numbers is a law of nature, which is why TANYC invited a duet partner to the studio. “Never ask twice” is a flawless noir film soundtrack with a spaghetti western twang guitar and also puts the American expat rock n’ roller Aaron Brooks in the limelight. A duet also makes sense here, the song explores the complications and the magic of living together and celebrates compromises. Ironic with a song collection that makes no artistic compromises at all. Why also? In which direction do you have to bend when what you build creates a whole world?
TANYC has set a wonderful chunk into this world that will see the light of day on June 18, 2021, or vice versa will shine into the world. When shows are not or hardly possible, TANYC impressively reveals what can be conjured up in the laboratory. Her debut of the same name is a hybrid of studio art and live band, of electronics and years of stage experience, of ethereal poetry and monumental staging. It is not for nothing that one speaks of “high fidelity” when speaking of the highest audiophile standards. Because with all the finesse and the elf-like remoteness of this impressive singer and composer, this album is simply fun and must not be forgotten.
TANYC seems to have the answers in uncertain times, or she just made her world. This is adult music, sarcasm, and youthful superficiality are looking for here, but you are looking for definitive, careful, and detailed artistic statements that were conceived from the pen of virtuoso students of upscale pop music. But as I said, words are sometimes not enough and maybe you don’t need them here either, these 12 songs speak for themselves.
Release: |
02 July 2021 |
Media: |
Vinyl (lim. edition, 180g, creamy white) |
GAOM067LP |
|
CD Digipak |
GAOM067 |
Media: |
Streaming & Digital |
GAOM067 |
Label: |
Gentle Art Of Music |
Distribution: |
Soulfood Music |