Music
The best kept secret in music
Press
http://www.splendidezine.com/review.html?reviewid=1133787203443262
Lauren Taylor and her bandmates would like us to think that they play country music. Almost Charming's nods to the genre are anything but subtle: slide guitar runs amok, every melody carries itself with a twanging lilt, and the cartoon Taylor on the album's cover belts out a line from the album's "Dry County" -- "I'm on the road to Tupelo to buy a case of beer." However, like Gram Parsons, Taylor's allegiances to confessional pop weigh in too strongly to let her music sit comfortably in a particular section of the record store.
Almost Charming feels very much like one person's vision; its break-ups and make-ups aren't tailored to resonate on a universal level, even when they're expressed in generalities. Whereas country music typically rejects the auteur in favor of the interpreter, Taylor is assuredly the former -- whether she fictionalizes her narratives or not, they're still undoubtedly hers. It's much easier then to think of her as a rock singer/songwriter who colors her songs with country overtones.
"Dry County"'s footloose treatment of Bible Belt anxiety most cunningly intertwines Taylor's country and pop personalities. It's a light, catchy song about crossing the county line to score some booze -- a journey its lyrics humorously portray as an archetypal Southern experience. It's the closest Taylor comes to writing a honky-tonk torch song, but it's also the furthest she strays from country's musical conventions: the bridge, with its spry melody and bouncy handclaps, feels more like a Cars song.
"Think of You" also presents Taylor and her bandmates as mature, complicated artists. It boasts the album's most memorable, instantly likable melody, accentuated by Taylor's strongest vocal performance. Here she doesn't play the cowgirl so much as the belle, swaying around within a spacious arrangement like Hope Sandoval with a drawl. The guitars also venture into dream-pop territory: a lap steel and a clean electric whisper into each other's ears and lock arms in the clouds. These seductive sonics provide a pleasingly ironic counterpoint to the lyrics' post-breakup smokescreen, suggesting the very memories that Taylor's persona attempts to block out.
Almost Charming's other five songs aren't as tightly wound or as vividly expressive, although "Bad Spell" and "Good Game" at least merit a little attention for the sheer prettiness of their vocal harmonies. "Gabriel" is a downright detour, all Dire Straitsy guitar tones and Hallmark clippings. However, while the album is a bit wobbly overall, Taylor's ability to mine multiple conventions to achieve her ends suggests that more songs like "Think of You" await.
-- Phillip Buchan - www.splendidezine.com
Discography
"Almost Charming" - Seven Songs 2005
'Poor Melissa' single released by Reel to Reel Records June 2005 www.reeltoreelrecords.com
Photos
Feeling a bit camera shy
Bio
Combining classic storytelling, a little twang and rock and roll, Lauren Taylor writes songs with southern and urban themes, songs about cheating and drinking.
Originally from the coast of North Carolina, Lauren Taylor grew up with big city New York dreams. With both of her parents from Alabama, her love of storytelling and music was instilled on frequent twelve hour all night drives from North Carolina to Alabama listening to country radio stations. Taylor explains, “I’ve never been able to sleep well. So when I was a kid, while Mom and my little sister slept in the back seat of our family station wagon, I would sit up front with Dad and absorb all the stories and melodies country music offered while the black night highway raced by.”
This love of storytelling is apparent in Lauren Taylor’s EP Almost Charming. The first track “Think Of You,” is a bittersweet story of love lost, all the while wishing the best for your ex-lover. “Dry County” was written for Taylor’s cousins who grew up in Hamilton, Alabama. “The first question asked when out of ear-shot of my grandmother was ‘You want to go to Tupelo?’ I knew then we’d be making that half hour drive for a case of Bush Light,” Taylor muses. The third track “Bad Spell” emotes that feeling of isolated depression to which we can all relate: when nothing is really wrong, but things sure aren’t right. “Trade Your Heart,” a song about wanting what you can’t have and “Poor Melissa,” Melissa’s side of the story to the Allman Brothers’ classic tune, (tracks four and six) were co-written with Taylor’s good friend and mentor Al Maddy, who also plays lap steel on the recording. Maddy’s resume includes stints with Island Records’ recording act The Nitecaps and Joey Ramone. “Gabriel” was written, “because we all need angels.” And “Good Game” well, “It’s about getting played.”
Almost Charming was mastered by another of Taylor’s close friends, punk legend Ivan Julian who is now a sought after producer and engineer. Julian was a founding member of Richard Hell and the Voidoids and has worked with such artists as Mathew Sweet and The Clash.
Backing vocalist Sara Genn, using her G5, recorded the album in her New York City apartment.
Lauren Taylor plays out frequently in New York and has developed a dedicated following.
Lauren Taylor’s EP Almost Charming is available for purchase at www.laurentaylorband.com
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