Before you listen to her new album, Maria Taylor suggests you prepare yourself. Listen to it, she says “in a dark room, with a candle or two with headphones, maybe in the bath, but definitely horizontal.”
Though much of the deliciously diverse LadyLuck is inspired by the end of a relationship, it’s not dripping with sadness and grief, nor is it in-your-face empowering. Rather, Taylor strikes a stunning balance between melancholy (aching strings, hushed vocals) and uplifting (rolling rhythms, shimmering keys), highlighted by sharp lyrics that draw optimism out of sadness. This is not a woman down on her luck.
LadyLuck, Taylor’s third solo effort, is about “personal growth and the change that comes with it,” she says. Much of the album was written as Taylor was preparing for a move (to Los Angeles) and immediately after arriving. “This change in my life was so so needed,” she says, “that, whereas lots of older songs have happy words but a sad undertone, these songs have sad words but with hopeful undertones of renewal.”
Change is something Taylor has welcomed in her career, which started at age 15 in the Birmingham, AL-based band Little Red Rocket. Taylor later became one-half of the dream pop band Azure Ray and left in 2005 to strike out on her own. “I just listen to my gut…always,” she says of the move. “Something said it’s time to try something different.” In 2005 she released the bold and critically-acclaimed solo album 11:11 which featured vocals by Conor Oberst. In 2007 she delivered Lynn Teeter Flower, which showcased her growth as a solo artist, as well as her aptitude for inventive beats and featured Doug Easley (Cat Power, Pavement) and Spoon’s Jim Eno.
On LadyLuck, Taylor changes things again, trading beat-centric tracks for more guitar and vocals (though she does get behind the drums on “It’s Time”). As on previous albums, she works with Now It’s Overhead’s Andy LeMaster as well as new contributor, REM’s Michael Stipe, both of whom collaborated on the album’s final track, “Cartoons and Forever Plans.”
First single “Time Lapse Lifetime,” with its orchestral strings and grand melody, is about how fast life moves and how in a moment everything can change. Appropriately, the song is punctuated by both a driving beat and lingering plaintive vocals, with breaks of near-silence for poignant turns of phrase. “Oh, we dreamed a life / and it was just like that, and just like that it’s gone,” Taylor sings as lone strings fade out.
Intimate, earnest, and complex, LadyLuck is Taylor’s most stunning effort to date. Whether you listen to it in the dark or light, with headphones or on the stereo, horizontal, vertical, or diagonal, LadyLuck will move you to cry, to dance, to sing, and everything in between.
Being an old fan and frequent showgoer of Azure Ray, I recently picked up a copy Ladyluck for some Saturday train-ride-listening. It could have been any album, but it was yours... and it floored me. It was like an unexpected run-in with a dear old friend who had undoubtedly changed, but still possessed all of the same qualities that made you love them in the first place. The album is graceful, lithe, honest and engaging. The songs effortlessly convey a delicate array of emotions: somber yet courageous, adventurous and wholehearted. It is the self-affirming music that reminds us to live.
I hope for you, this album embodies everything you aimed for; it was all I wanted it to be.
you've a natural musical way about you.. you shine .. amazing wicked voice..with poetic license..thank dogma i lived in orlando for a spell ... those local band kids always know the best musicans.. light and love cate
Hey there, I have a new track entitled 'To Make Amends' up on my page, and it'd be greatly appreciated if you could spare 2.58 minutes of your time and give it a listen. Let me know what you think if you have enough time. Peace, Jonny.
I never, ever get sick of your music! You're beautiful and your music is just amazing! I love Cartoons and Forever Plans, the clip is terrific. Love Nicole xox
hi, i just bought your new cd off i tunes. i own 11:11, lynn teeter flower, and with every release i become more and more of a fan. so thought i'd say, beautiful cd. the emotion in it can so be felt, i love it. <3 wish your tour would get you here in vegas.
After i've cleaned up my whole player i finally managed to put up a new track called 'PAST FUTURE' . Dream Trance Style so if u like - give it a try and say what you think. Would be damn great ! =)
Hey Maria, I love the video to cartoons and forever plans. That's so sweet and positive. Big compliment to the director and everybody involved. Needless to say that the gig in Cologne was awesome : )
Hey there, I've just uplaoded a new song entitled 'To Make Amends', which I finished writing and recorded today. It's very personal so I hope that you can get past that and maybe understand, see, or even empathise with it. If not, I hope you enjoy listening to it, and if you can, leave me a little comment saying what you think. Much love, Jonny.
Thanks for Glasgow, first 'goosebumps gig' i'd been to for a while. It was the slowed down version of a clean getaway that did it for me :) sorry about asking about azure ray songs, couldn't resist! the band did great!
What a great great gig at Brotfabrik, Frankfurt yesterday. Wow, thx a lot. Looks like you..re becoming a classy, classic songwriter and singer like the liks of Emmylou Harris, Carly Simon, Carole King etc. Stay tuned. D.
Hope you've finaly get our cd.. Anyway, we'll come to Us for our first US tour and you're welcome on our guest list if you wanna come to one of the shows. Thomas
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