Elijah Taylor of Hamilton, Ontario has an interesting story of how his new EP titled The Bulrush came to be.
Taylor began his musical journey by playing in a hard rock duo called The Paisley Stares, that shared the stage with pop-punk and metal bands. However he always yearned to join the Hamilton songwriting scene, so he began experimenting with Americana toward a new LP. However, while recording THAT album, Taylor asked producer Brent Moerschfelder if they could record an acoustic EP in a day and have it released that afternoon. The producer was amenable, so Taylor recorded in Moerschfelder’s farmhouse bedroom, going for an “open” sound that includes birds and motorcycle sounds leaking in from a nearby window (though I didn’t really hear any of this). Two cover songs were learned on the spot. Taylor calls the resulting collection “a spontaneous squall of creativity that was the truest recreation I’ve heard so far of the music inside me. Brent got the most beautiful acoustic sound I’ve ever heard.” “On a Train Facing Backward” starts off in Leo Kottke mode, with circular acoustic riffs interlaced with snake-like runs on Taylor’s Telecaster, recorded direct-in from a Tone Master amp. It’s a short track (barely two minutes) with a fairly simple construction, but it sounds amazing, with the small variations counting for a lot. I’m guessing that “Blues Tonight” is a new folk-rock song meant for Taylor’s upcoming full-length album, but Taylor says “I was just dying to get it out.” Of course there’s no drums here but the tempo is nonetheless propulsive and insistent, while Taylor’s vocals seem to have been conjured up from the soil beneath the studio floorboards: earthy and heartfelt. The Telecaster adds all sorts of twangy color. The bones of this song are solid and it will make a great fully-produced track, since it already works so well here. “It Can’t Be Nashville Every Night” is a vocal cover tune that Taylor “spent an hour figuring out the chord progression for.” I’m not familiar with the five writers, but it’s a great song in the dramatic tradition of Glen Hansard. The Telecaster guitar is again a perfect partner to Taylor’s beautifully strummed acoustic and sincere vocals. “Bulrush” is the final vocal original by Taylor, and it feels like something he’s rehearsed for days. Dark, minor key folk is paired with dramatic strumming and singing. The repeated refrain “I want a girl who tells me I know how to dance” rang true with me, as I’ve certainly had the exact opposite kind! The collection ends with a cover of Paul Simon’s “Graceland.” With the wild flourishes of the twangy Telecaster, I guess you could call it the Americana or country version. Taylor nails this tune just as well as the others and it’s a nice way to finish. Taylor has delivered way more than a preview of the music we might expect from his upcoming album, with a short but fine EP that totally stands on its own.
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