Pina
Some years ago, the Austrian government decided to introduce compulsory health insurance for artists. With a baby to support, singer Pina Koller felt she couldn't afford the outlay so she upped sticks from Vienna and moved to the less bureaucratic spot of Ardgroom in West Cork. She had seen a TV programme about Ireland and thought that a somewhat unconventional person like herself stood a chance of being accepted there.
She was, and then came another stroke of good fortune. The Afro-Celt Sound System decided to record a Heather Nova song, on their Volume 3: Further in Time album and invited Pina to be their guest vocalist. This was not quite the coincidence that it appears to be, because shortly after her arrival in Ireland she'd met Alan McEvoy, business manager of the Cranberries, and he'd put her in touch with useful names in the Irish music scene.
Anyway, Peter Gabriel head her voice on the Afro-Celt Sound recording and was so impressed that he offered her a deal with his Real World Label. The result is Quick Look.
Pina's voice is strongly reminiscent of American singer Melanie (remember her?) but there's a screech of Alanis Morissette there as well, while the backing sound is a dramatic electro-acoustic mix, strong on percussive guitar effects. Her Austrian English makes the lyrics marginally comprehensible and this presents listeners with the challenge of deciphering meaning. Perplexed by the lyrics, one critic wrote: "Their absence from the liner notes is keenly felt." Nice way of putting it, that.
And what of the Austrian government that forced her and her five-month-old baby to flee her native land? The tax-hungry Alpine republic gets its comeuppance in The Tower, a traumatic shriek of betrayal.
