It’s been three years since Talinka have released their sole
self-titled debut release on the Fanfare label and distributed by MoonJune
Records. The quartet have taken the genre to a whole new level. In my 2017
review back in September, I’ve described their music a combination between Folk,
Jazz, Tango, and the Great American Songbook. Not to mention Tali Atzmon’s
vocals in the styles of Miss Lily Banquette of Combustible Edison.
Well she’s not that anymore, she’s doing what she wants to
do in a decade as we enter the roaring ‘20s. Talinka’s second release entitled Rainbow Over Kolonaki, released on Gilad’s
Fanfare label, shows that the Talinka quartet are continuing their journey of
the three similarities between song, melody, and beauty. And the three of
those, are now as one whole circle.
From the opening sounds of the title-track, we hear birds
chirping, church bells ringing, and conversations around common folk while the
nod to Camile Saint-Saens’ Danse Macabre,
fills the halls of a cabaret waltz. With Yaron’s double bass, Jenni’s violin,
Gilad’s accordion, and Tali’s vocals, its almost as if you’re right in the
middle of the late ‘30s/early ‘40s as Tali honors the arrangements of Lotte
Lenya’s Pirate Jenny from The Threepenny Opera.
The spotlight shines on her again with Ol’ Blue Eyes’ I’m a Fool to Want You. Now for
her to tackle the music of Frank Sinatra, shows how much she honors this incredible
gem as if we, the listeners, are walking into the gardens of two film-noir
classics, Casablanca and The Maltese Falcon.
The haunting finger-picking sounds of the Ukulele and the
Accordion, takes us through the powerful exhibitions between the paintings of
Jackson Pollock and Willem de Kooning on Time
Runs Out. Each of the images are set to this composition as Tali and Jenny
share some background vocalizations in the midsection of the song.
The next composition of When
Apollo Smiles, goes into the samba tradition of a Welsh folk song as the
continuation between Tali and Jenny bring out more of the harmonies together in
their voices while she and Gilad walk through the landscapes of Kew Gardens
between her ukulele and Gilad’s guitar playing.
As Gilad’s opening sax introduction takes place on If I Should Lose You, he follows Tali by
walking up and down this spiral staircase before Jenny & Yaron come
together as they follow them to bring the curtains down on a soothing finale.
This took me about a few listens with Rainbow
Over Kolonaki.
And I have to say that the Talinka quartet have continued to
bring the magic underneath their sleeves once more by bringing Jazz with
unbelievable results to keep the genre going with a delicious twist of the
Pomegranate.