Emmett Tinley

Emmett Tinley is a singer-songwriter^[1] and multi-instrumentalist, best known as frontman for the folk/indie band, The Prayer Boat and later for his solo work. He was born in the United States in Chicago, but was 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 City and Copenhagen. 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

Tinley was a member of the band from its inception in 1987. Tinley provided the vocals to the band and also played guitar and piano. The Prayer Boat released two albums which were critically acclaimed by 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. Although not officially disbanded, The Prayer Boat haven't worked together for several years and Tinley has pursued a solo career. In 2009, a tenth anniversary edition of Polichinelle was rereleased. The Benelux edition of the rerelease featured five additional tracks.

Voice

Tinley's voice is a tenor 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. The Sunday Tribune describes it as 'a lovely reedy thing that is highly ambiguous'.

Solo work

Tinley released his first solo album, Attic Faith, through Irish label Independent Records on 15 April 2005. It was produced by Victor Van Vugt, an award-winning music producer and engineer who has worked with many artists including 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 the Netherlands, 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 comes from a time when he was living in an attic in Amsterdam. He 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.

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.'

In 2011, Emmett Tinley released his second eponymously titled solo album. The album was recorded in Los Angeles by Robert Shahnazarian jr and in Odense, Denmark. The album was mastered by Bernie Becker. The first single of the album, Takes A Long Time To Heal was released in November 2011.

References

External links

• Emmett Tinley
• The Prayer Boat
• Mass Market Recordings