The very prolific and artistically diverse singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, Maria Taylor (also a member of duo Azure Ray with Orenda Fink) has played or collaborated with Bright Eyes, Moby, Michael Stipe of R.E.M, Daniel Johnston and more and let's not forget about the band, Little Red Rocket, that she started at age 15 with her aforementioned long time collaborator and friend, Orenda. Often times her folk dreams are so pristine and her artful eclectic sounds steeped in 90's college radio vibes and late 70's proto dream pop tones such as 2005's "Song Beneath The Song", a full 9 years before Phoebe Bridgers showed up on radar screens, feels uncannily like a lot of the indie singer-songwriter flavors of today.
Maybe Taylor has always been ahead of her times in terms of styles and an almost genre agnostic sensibility. Her latest, "It's Coming For You", feels like a layer cake of true dreaming, nostalgia, and maybe lost times. The track is bathed in a beautiful disorientation, stripped indie rock with upfront guitars and drums with hazy self reflected vox like vocals pushed through a Shure 520DX Bullet Harmonica Microphone. When the floor drops out and the dream becomes crushingly tender it might surprise you and it might (like it did to me) push goosebumps across your skin. That moment elevates "It's Coming For You" even though the song did not need any elevating but so grateful for Maria's emotional choices.
Such a lovely transforming song made for people who want to feel something. It made me think of so many parts of my life. Love the sound and while it is all Maria Taylor in terms of shape shifting emotionality I also thought of an amalgam of The Babies, Courtney Barnett, The Stones (early years), The Plimsouls and Phoebe.
Amazing.
-Robb Donker Curtius
THE FACTS AS WE KNOW THEM - PRESS NOTES:
https://www.facebook.com/mariataylor/
https://www.instagram.com/mariataylor1111/
https://www.youtube.com/user/mariataylortv
https://soundcloud.com/user-724402060
Maria Taylor is a singer-songwriter from Birmingham, AL, She is also a member of the duo Azure Ray (Saddle Creek Records) with Orenda Fink. Taylor has previously played or collaborated with Bright Eyes, Moby, Michael Stipe of R.E.M., Daniel Johnston and more.
Taylor started her musical career at the age of fifteen in the band Little Red Rocket with what would be a long time collaborator, Orenda Fink. Taylor and Fink later moved to Athens, Georgia where they formed Azure Ray. The pair signed to WARM and released their self-titled debut in 2001, which included the hit songs "Sleep,” “Displaced” and “Rise.” Azure Ray released their second album, Burn and Shiver in 2002 and around that time, Bright Eyes frontman Conor Oberst invited the band on tour and introduced them to Saddle Creek, who released their following records, November EP, The Drinks We Drank Last Night, 2003's Hold on Love. Following the release of Hold on Love, Taylor and Fink began a 6-year hiatus.
Taylor released her first solo album 11:11 on May 24, 2005 with features including Conor Oberst, Gretta Cohn of Cursive, Andy LeMaster and Mike Mogis as both musicians and producers. Her second solo album, Lynn Teeter Flower, was released on March 6, 2007, and the the first track "A Good Start," was subsequently named one of NPR's 10 best songs of the year for 2007. On March 31, 2009 she released her third full length, LadyLuck featuring the song "Cartoons and Forever Plans," co-written by and including guest vocals from R.E.M.'s Michael Stipe. LadyLuck reached number 48 on Billboard's "Heatseakers" charts.
Azure Ray reunited for a one-off reunion show in December of 2008 at Los Angeles's iconic Troubadour and in 2010, released their first album in six years, Drawing Down the Moon. Overlook, Maria's 4th solo album, was released August 16, 2011. After moving back to her hometown of Birmingham, Taylor was unable to write for nearly a year, eventually composing the entire album over two weeks during a break in touring with Azure Ray. This release marks the first time Taylor produced her own album, which Paste called "her best, most animated collection in years." In August of 2012, Azure Ray reunited for As Above, So Below EP. The next year, Taylor released her fifth solo record Something About Knowing on October 29, 2013.
After moving back to Los Angeles, Taylor wrote and recorded In the Next Life, released December 9, 2016 on her own label, Flower Moon Records. The album features guest appearances from familiar collaborators Joshua Radin, Conor Oberst and more. "If Only" (featuring Oberst) was prominently featured in NBC's This Is Us. NPR called it "her warmest and most affecting album... filled with gorgeous, touching songs about family, legacy, fear and the pursuit of contentment." Flower Moon Records has since re-released Taylor's earlier albums, 11:11 and LadyLuck, as well as Azure Ray's self-titled record and Burn and Shiver.
Maria Taylor, indie rock, dream pop, alternative rock, singer songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, iconic, beautiful disorientation, deep musical narratives, "It's Coming For You", Birmingham Alabama bred
https://www.facebook.com/mariataylor/
https://www.instagram.com/mariataylor1111/
https://www.youtube.com/user/mariataylortv
https://soundcloud.com/user-724402060
Maria Taylor is a singer-songwriter from Birmingham, AL, She is also a member of the duo Azure Ray (Saddle Creek Records) with Orenda Fink. Taylor has previously played or collaborated with Bright Eyes, Moby, Michael Stipe of R.E.M., Daniel Johnston and more.
Taylor started her musical career at the age of fifteen in the band Little Red Rocket with what would be a long time collaborator, Orenda Fink. Taylor and Fink later moved to Athens, Georgia where they formed Azure Ray. The pair signed to WARM and released their self-titled debut in 2001, which included the hit songs "Sleep,” “Displaced” and “Rise.” Azure Ray released their second album, Burn and Shiver in 2002 and around that time, Bright Eyes frontman Conor Oberst invited the band on tour and introduced them to Saddle Creek, who released their following records, November EP, The Drinks We Drank Last Night, 2003's Hold on Love. Following the release of Hold on Love, Taylor and Fink began a 6-year hiatus.
Taylor released her first solo album 11:11 on May 24, 2005 with features including Conor Oberst, Gretta Cohn of Cursive, Andy LeMaster and Mike Mogis as both musicians and producers. Her second solo album, Lynn Teeter Flower, was released on March 6, 2007, and the the first track "A Good Start," was subsequently named one of NPR's 10 best songs of the year for 2007. On March 31, 2009 she released her third full length, LadyLuck featuring the song "Cartoons and Forever Plans," co-written by and including guest vocals from R.E.M.'s Michael Stipe. LadyLuck reached number 48 on Billboard's "Heatseakers" charts.
Azure Ray reunited for a one-off reunion show in December of 2008 at Los Angeles's iconic Troubadour and in 2010, released their first album in six years, Drawing Down the Moon. Overlook, Maria's 4th solo album, was released August 16, 2011. After moving back to her hometown of Birmingham, Taylor was unable to write for nearly a year, eventually composing the entire album over two weeks during a break in touring with Azure Ray. This release marks the first time Taylor produced her own album, which Paste called "her best, most animated collection in years." In August of 2012, Azure Ray reunited for As Above, So Below EP. The next year, Taylor released her fifth solo record Something About Knowing on October 29, 2013.
After moving back to Los Angeles, Taylor wrote and recorded In the Next Life, released December 9, 2016 on her own label, Flower Moon Records. The album features guest appearances from familiar collaborators Joshua Radin, Conor Oberst and more. "If Only" (featuring Oberst) was prominently featured in NBC's This Is Us. NPR called it "her warmest and most affecting album... filled with gorgeous, touching songs about family, legacy, fear and the pursuit of contentment." Flower Moon Records has since re-released Taylor's earlier albums, 11:11 and LadyLuck, as well as Azure Ray's self-titled record and Burn and Shiver.
Maria Taylor, indie rock, dream pop, alternative rock, singer songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, iconic, beautiful disorientation, deep musical narratives, "It's Coming For You", Birmingham Alabama bred
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