Tina Dico – A Beginning / A Detour / An Open Ending

Known in her homeland as Tina Dickow, Tina Dico (um... as she's known here) is a Danish singer-songwriter. During the the process of creting her fourth studio album Count to Ten, she struck upon the idea of using unrecorded songs to create a trio of EPs to be sold on her tour, which eventually became what she now terms a "trilogy" - A Beginning, A Detour, and An Open Ending. This release is the culmination of that project, packaging all three EPs into one box set, comprising about an hour and fifteen minutes of music across twenty songs. The impressive level of consistent quality across these songs stems not only from Dico's talent but also from the unique system of recording six or seven songs at a time as mini-projects - you might expect this box set to be a bit scrappy or inconsistent like London Calling (as brilliant as that album is) or Use Your Illusion, but these three EPs have more than enough common thematic threads running through them to make them feel whole... and yet the formula never becomes tired, as the set's structure allows the music to comfortably, gradually expand in scope. That's one of the things that makes these EPs such an enthralling listen.The trilogy begins, appropriately, with A Beginning. Largely the softest, most subtle and most acoustic of the three, the music here is characterised by guitar, piano, and intermittent, gentle drums. These stripped-down arrangements show off some of the best of Dico's impressively rich, expressive voice, and there's not a bad song here - from the tender, uncertain "He Doesn't Know" to wonderfully thoughtful and inspiring "Quarter to Forever" which is one of the central songs to the whole trilogy - there's a recurring theme here of learning sometimes uncomfortable truths about life, which flits in and out of these narratives but is often at its strongest in the tracks which end each EP. "Get To Know You" is clearly heavily based on Bob Dylan's "All I Really Want To Do", but its different and slightly darker tone and immaculate performance let it stand on its own two feet.A Detour expands the sound significantly, and introduces some gloomier, darker themes to the lyrics. One of the highlights is the opener "No Time To Sleep", which while displaying that expanded sound, is still almost as Dylanesque as "Get To Know You". Dico displays a gift for both narrative and the ability to be thought-provoking in her songs, and while "No Time To Sleep" exercises the latter, the former is shown off well by songs like "Friend In A Bar", which tells a haunting tale of loneliness and sadness, even if its credibility and drama is damaged a little by the odd spoken annotation to the story. "London" reflects Dico's move to the city to further her career, depicting the capital as a living, cryptic but enthralling thing. The study of "city as organism" has been done before, but it still sounds fresh and relevant here. Incidentally, listen out for the hilarious mondegreen during "Heaven and Hell"...An Open Ending, as the final EP, has the role of neatly tying everything together. This is does perfectly, mainly through its opener "A New Situation" and the closing title track, which collectively namecheck all three EPs, helping this trilogy to feel like a cohesive, meaningful work. Possibly the most upbeat song on offer, "A New Situation" displays all the hallmarks of an intriguingly intelligent, pleasing radio hit, which displays a continued broadening of the trilogy's arrangements and sound. It's a fantastic song, displaying new parts of Dico's vocal personality, and evolving simply but satisfyingly with electric guitar, tamborines, and increasingly forceful drums repeatedly building up to a wonderful chorus. "Walls" features Helgi Jonsson of trombone-player-for-Sigur Rós fame as well as lyrics which reinforce the self-analysing, philosphical content of the album - "Do you ever get the feeling / You're a mystery / A secret so deep / Even you can't percieve?" The closer "An Open Ending" reinforces the trilogy's status as not only a work of music but of ideas, of life lessons. Dico sounds at peace with her realisation that "there's no answer as big as the question" and relieved to discover that "there's no power like understanding". Returning to a sparse, stripped down guitar sound, the song makes the trilogy feel cyclic, reinforcing the idea that every end is really just a new beginning in disguise.It's almost hard to believe that these EPs were originally intended only as a tour release. That status would have been a fantastic gift to hardcore fans, but also an insult to the stature of this music. Containing some of the most thought-provoking, inspiring and moving songs I've heard in 2008, this is a set with extremely broad appeal, which deserves to be widely heard. A Detour is definitely the weakest of the three EPs, but almost throughout the trilogy we hear sparklingly clear lyrics wonderfully sung, with a stirring, warm and well-crafted musical backdrop... enthralling stuff. 90%Tina Dico on MySpace