aaamusic | On 20, Jan 2011

‘Welcome Back Colour’ is the seventh album from one of Denmark’s most successful recording artists, Tina Dico. Released on the 14th of february, it is a stunning collection of new songs, re-workings of favourites and all the classics on one double CD album.

It draws a final stroke under Dico’s career to date and marks a new musical beginning. To get this far, she needed the peace and reflection that she only found when she retreated to her native Denmark after several years residing in London. She says. “I started to process my previous artistic work and could have been proud of myself. Instead, I felt this urgent need for change. I come from a very structured family, and I suppose for the past ten years I was busy breaking out of structures. During that time the short-term encounters with people and fast goodbyes set free creative forces in me to write songs. I still like to travel, but these days I no longer enjoy long tours because I have created a place to return to. This will probably change my music, although I have no idea which direction it will take.”

The three new tracks on the first CD here give us an idea – they are more experimental and multi-layered than before. The album title track, which was created in collaboration with Iceland’s multitask instrumentalist and creative mind, Helgi Jonsson, featuring a staccato-like guitar chord over a pulsating beat, sketches that atmosphere of departure that also defines ‘Paper Thin’ and ‘Instead’, and takes the music into previously uncharted terrain. Forthcoming single ‘Love All Around’ and ‘Goldhawk Road’, two songs that had previously been available only on the soundtrack album ‘Road To Gavle’, close the circle between Dico’s musical visions of the future and her many familiar songs. Nine of her classics, including ‘Count To Ten’, ‘Warm Sand’ and ‘On The Run’, complete the first album.

The additional CD demonstrates another perspective on Tina Dico’s song writing in the shape of new, sparse, acoustically instrumented arrangements from her back catalogue. This is an apt reminder of Tina’s musical root when she would perform with just an acoustic guitar. The CD also features a reinterpretation of Zero 7’s gorgeous single ‘Home’ (on which Tina co-wrote and sang), from their second album ‘When It Falls’.

As a one-woman record company without a big budget, Dico had to work hard to expand her level of popularity outside Scandinavia. This was achieved through constant touring with several visits to Europe and America, each time playing bigger venues as her fan base grew – this included a sold out show at London’s Shepherds Bush Empire last October.  Airports took on a kind of home-like quality in the abstracted perception that constant travelling frequently brings about. Her songs were conceived during her journeys and Dico drew her creative energy from the friction of permanently being on the road. This self-imposed route was exciting, successful, disciplinal, exhausting and adventurous. ‘Welcome Back Colour’ is a beautiful documentation of that time.

Tina Dico will tour the UK next February – dates are as follows:

16.02.11 Birmingham Glee

17.02.11 Bristol Louisiana

18.02.11 Manchester Band on the Wall

19.02.11 Nottingham Rescue Rooms

20.02.11 Milton Keynes Stables

23.02.11 London Cadogan Hall

24.02.11 Cambridge Junction

26.02.11 Brighton Komedia

27.02.11 Norwich Arts Centre