Tina Dico – Far

Singer/songwriter Tina Dico has gone from Zero to hero with her breathtaking mini album. You may not have heard the name but for Zero 7 fans the voice should be familiar – the statuesque blonde collaborated on their top three album When It Falls.

This, though, is all her own work and while she herself may fail to gain the mainstream popularity of her ambient friends she shouldn’t go unnoticed.

In her home country this year she was voted Best Composer at the Danish Music Critics awards, and a Danish Grammy at the Danish Music Awards in the coveted best songwriter category.

Far is an introspective, pared-down, elegant collection of six diverse songs, which better with each listen. Dico plays guitar, accompanying her voice throughout. Break Of Day and Warm Sand invite the listener to get lost in the achingly haunting lyrics while last track Back Where We Started invokes memories long since forgotten.

Comparisons with Joni Mitchell are inevitable, but on this evidence it may not be too long until Dico becomes a benchmark herself.