Maria Taylor – LadyLuck
You get the distinct feeling Maria Taylor longs to colour outside the lines. To classify her as a singer/songwriter is like calling Snoopy simply a dog.
She has an impressionist’s spirit but a realist’s demeanour. Seems as if she knows she needs the occasional poppy hit to keep this vehicle moving and on her latest album Ladyluck there are more than a couple potentially radio-friendly tunes. Thing is, the rest of the CD smacks of experimentation; not in the Bjork sense but this lady simply likes stretching traditional aural boundaries.
She loves strings, she loves uncommon rhythms. If I didn’t know better – and I don’t – I would say Ms. Taylor is still in pursuit of her true voice. It’s not that she’s lost; more that she’s testing so many flavours she’s not sure which her favourite is yet. Whereas most contemporary singer/songwriters simply duplicate a comfortable formula with each album, Maria continues to try on musical shoe after musical shoe.
Ladyluck is Taylor’s third full-length album after toiling in a number of groups and as part of the Azure Ray duet. She’s been a regular contributor to soundtracks for shows like Bones and Grey’s Anatomy. She has also in the past, collaborated with such musical luminaries as Moby and Bright Eyes. Even REM’s Michael Stipe guests on the Cartoons and Forever Plans, the final track.
On Ladyluck Taylor goes from mystical to predictable to sublime. There is a certain accessible comfort level to some of her songs, almost bordering on ordinary. Maybe she’s just so adept at doing pop songs that they come across as less-than-genuine efforts. Count Ladyluck and A Chance in this category.
But, for as much as Taylor ventures into the banal (and she doesn’t do it often) she also shows a clear sense of aural wanderlust; her songs breaking the bonds of contentment and venturing into areas yet unknown.
Take Orchids for example; it starts as simple two-part harmony but breaks into soft chord strumming, as if U2 had decided to go acoustic, and My Favorite…Love (interestingly, my favourite), a song softly-layered beneath a lone strumming guitar and a small string quartet. It almost sounds like fable put to song. Call it modern Baroque.
The ten songs are so varied and different musically that ultimately you’ll have a difficult time believing this is not a compilation disc or some sort of tribute album. Taylor’s voice is the lone common thread.
Although Ladyluck isn’t about to challenge the current champions in your record collection I dare say there will be a couple songs on this commendable effort you’ll want to add to you playlist. Exactly which ones they are will illustrate which Maria Taylor flavour you’re most particular to.
Ladyluck by Maria Taylor
Orchids by Maria Taylor
A Chance by Maria Taylor
Cartoons and Forever Plans by Maria Taylor
Tags: album, ladyluck, maria taylor
