Album Notes

Some of what the press has said about Emmett Tinley’s ‘Attic Faith’- “….one of the most stunningly beautiful albums you're likely to hear all year”, “.. the most glorious, heartfelt paeans to loves lost, loves left behind and loves that never really existed in the first place except in your wildest imaginings”, “This debut solo album is…a work of great quality far removed from the morose ramblings of many other singer songwriters.”, “…a gorgeously fragile, deliciously delicate album to make you fall in love with sad songs again.”, “..an elegant and vividly soul-searching album”, “Up there with the albums of Rufus Wainwright or Jeff Buckley. Truly sublime.”

Emmett Tinley was born in Chicago but grew up in Ireland. Through the 1990’s he fronted the critically acclaimed Irish band The Prayer Boat. The band took a break as the new millennium began and Emmett moved to Amsterdam to work on his first solo album. At the end of 2000 he was signed by Craig Kallman to Atlantic Records in New York. The Prayer Boat's final album, 'Polichinelle', was released in the US in March 2001. Emmett embarked on three solo tours of the US but with the label in disarray after 9/11 he decided to return to Europe and focus on recording the new album, ‘Attic Faith’.

Working with mainly jazz musicians from Denmark (Martin Spure on bass, Nikolaj Bundvig on drums and Allin Bang on keyboards) the album began to take shape and Emmett recruited Dutch guitarist Marijn Slager as plans for recording came together. Australian producer Victor Van Vugt (Nick Cave, Beth Orton, PJ Harvey) was brought in to produce the album and recording began in New York in March 2003. By the end of the year Attic Faith was finished but Atlantic were unclear about what to do next.

Plans were put on hold and Emmett moved back to Dublin, where he finally convinced Atlantic to allow him an Ireland-only release. Attic Faith was licensed to Independent Records and was released in April 2005 to rave reviews and a first-ever chart position at 28. The album went on to be nominated for the Choice Music Prize (the Irish Mercury Prize) for Best Irish Album of 2005.
Emmett parted company with Atlantic in May 2006 and, though planning to license ‘Attic Faith’ for wider release, he is busy working on a new album.