D. Saylor is the artist name for David A. Saylor of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Saylor is a singer/songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and music producer who plays what he calls “slightly melancholy acoustic guitar-driven music.” His new (and possibly first) release is simply titled EP 1.
Saylor is another artist following a recent trend of presenting as little biographical material as possible, perhaps so that his music speaks for itself. Based on a single photo, he appears to be a relatively young man who lives in a castle-like home, likes Nirvana, grows his own food and possibly leans toward Christianity. Also he prefers his songs to be very short. Let’s see what his music has to say! The opening track “Balcony” is a dirge-like song built on acoustic guitar and keys. The arrangement melds a bit of George Harrison (“My Sweet Lord”) with Lennon’s autobiographical framing. Within the keyboard tracks there’s both retro-sounding patches and acoustic piano, and the percussion is fairly simple (I think I hear bongos and even one of those wooden fish you play with a stick). The lyrics are rather elliptical and a little creepy (“Oh child, are you sick? / I need this treatment, candles lit / and I wished you felt the same… you need your medication / You’re killing me”). If I had to guess I’d say the balcony is symbolic of the line between life and death (but I’m lousy at guessing!). “King and the Crown” is a more upbeat and cleaner-sounding folk tune, more within the Elliot Smith tradition. Though mostly minor chords with plaintive vocals, the overall sound has a pleasing jangle. Lyrically Saylor seems to be describing a troubled relationship using classic folktale imagery. “Lost and Found” has similar qualities, again describing the give and take of a romantic affair (or maybe the joy and sadness of life itself) but featuring a simple but very catchy chorus: “Hold on / Just hold on / but don’t hold on for too long.” Again the song itself has a powerful, delayed effect. The final track “In the Middle” is layered with string-like keys framing Saylor’s guitar and vocals. By now I’ve realized that Saylor doesn’t write chorus sections per se, instead having repeated vocal lines (“How long will you wait in the middle?”) and a bit more emphasis in his singing to delineate those sections. If the other songs were longer, I’d even call this track a “coda” as it states its purpose before closing with a short instrumental section. Though featuring four very short songs, this EP is a good indicator that Saylor has innate talent he should continue to explore, maybe with longer tracks or different arrangements. But this is an excellent start and worth a listen!
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