With a distinct, raw sound in mind, Maria Taylor self-produced for the first time and called upon friend and neighbor Lester Nuby III (Verbena, Vulture Whale) to engineer Overlook. She sought to capture the sound of the South, of Alabama and its music scene, enlisting a host of local musicians to flesh out the album and lend their personalities to the songs. The sessions ran loose and easy, with family and friends often stopping in and spending time as she recorded. Taylor even hired LA-based but Birmingham-native Daniel Farris to mix the album.

Though often referred to as half of the duo Azure Ray and 1/4 of Saddle Creek's Now It's Overhead, Taylor's soulful melodies and honeyed vocal talents have cropped up on the releases of Crooked Fingers, Bright Eyes, Moby, The Bruces, and The Faint. She writes the sort of classic, sad songs once favored by the first ladies of American songwriting. On this, her first solo full-length, she evokes the artistry of greats like Carole King, Laura Nyro, and Rickie Lee Jones, while spanning the spectrum from acoustic folk to electronic dream pop. The all-star cast includes Cursive's Gretta Cohn, Now It's Overhead's Andy LeMaster, and Bright Eyes' Conor Oberst and Mike Mogis.

The songs for Lynn Teeter Flower, an album named after a family friend in Maria's native Birmingham, Alabama, were written in between tours for 11:11. The collection reveals a woman settling very well into her role as a solo artist, peeling back some of the layers of the last album to reveal a more organic sound, one that resembled the hundreds of shows she had done all over the globe in support of 11:11over the course of the last year. She began her new recording sessions with Spoon's drummer Jim Eno in Austin, hopped over to Athens to record four more tracks with Now It's Overhead's Andy LeMaster (who worked on 11:11), and then ended up in Memphis to work with Doug Easley (Cat Power, Pavement). The record sees contributions from Maria's brother and sister - bassist Macey Taylor and keyboardist Kate Taylor, both of whom played in her live band, as well as Bright Eyes' Conor Oberst, who co-wrote and sings on "The Ballad of Sean Foley." With Lynn Teeter Flower, Maria Taylor is taking her songcraft to new heights, mixing together soaring guitars, bubbly electronics, feathery farfisa organs and sugary layers of vocals into the sweetest confection of an album you'll hear all year. Opener "A Good Start" is propelled by a vicious groove, setting the tone for an album more influenced by rhythm, very possibly the result of one of Maria's favorite hobbies: playing the drums. "Smile and Wave" weaves a bed of "Strawberry Fields"-esque mellotron with ribbons of Maria's rich voice, while "My Own Fault" strips everything down to a sparse drum machine, a dry electric guitar and a seasick organ mingling with Maria's lament. "Irish Goodbye" picks up where 11:11's "One for the Stockholder" left off, dancing in a place where acoustic guitars mix effortlessly with a crisp electronic beat, and "Lost Time," with its lone acoustic guitar, melancholy piano and plaintive vocal, reminds us of some of the moments that made us entranced by Maria Taylor in the first place: a voice as smooth and sweet as honey spinning marvelous, insightful tales of the world around us with much aplomb. As far as we're concerned, that's certainly something worth falling for.

No Description Available.
Genre: Popular Music
Media Format: Compact Disk
Rating:
Release Date: 31-MAR-2009

With a distinct, raw sound in mind, Maria Taylor self-produced for the first time and called upon friend and neighbor Lester Nuby III (Verbena, Vulture Whale) to engineer Overlook. She sought to capture the sound of the South, of Alabama and its music scene, enlisting a host of local musicians to flesh out the album and lend their personalities to the songs. The sessions ran loose and easy, with family and friends often stopping in and spending time as she recorded. Taylor even hired LA-based but Birmingham-native Daniel Farris to mix the album.

With a distinct, raw sound in mind, Maria Taylor self-produced for the first time and called upon friend and neighbor Lester Nuby III (Verbena, Vulture Whale) to engineer Overlook. She sought to capture the sound of the South, of Alabama and its music scene, enlisting a host of local musicians to flesh out the album and lend their personalities to the songs. The sessions ran loose and easy, with family and friends often stopping in and spending time as she recorded. Taylor even hired LA-based but Birmingham-native Daniel Farris to mix the album.

With a distinct, raw sound in mind, Maria Taylor self-produced for the first time and called upon friend and neighbor Lester Nuby III (Verbena, Vulture Whale) to engineer Overlook. She sought to capture the sound of the South, of Alabama and its music scene, enlisting a host of local musicians to flesh out the album and lend their personalities to the songs. The sessions ran loose and easy, with family and friends often stopping in and spending time as she recorded. Taylor even hired LA-based but Birmingham-native Daniel Farris to mix the album.

The songs for Lynn Teeter Flower, an album named after a family friend in Maria's native Birmingham, Alabama, were written in between tours for 11:11. The collection reveals a woman settling very well into her role as a solo artist, peeling back some of the layers of the last album to reveal a more organic sound, one that resembled the hundreds of shows she had done all over the globe in support of 11:11over the course of the last year. She began her new recording sessions with Spoon's drummer Jim Eno in Austin, hopped over to Athens to record four more tracks with Now It's Overhead's Andy LeMaster (who worked on 11:11), and then ended up in Memphis to work with Doug Easley (Cat Power, Pavement). The record sees contributions from Maria's brother and sister - bassist Macey Taylor and keyboardist Kate Taylor, both of whom played in her live band, as well as Bright Eyes' Conor Oberst, who co-wrote and sings on "The Ballad of Sean Foley." With Lynn Teeter Flower, Maria Taylor is taking her songcraft to new heights, mixing together soaring guitars, bubbly electronics, feathery farfisa organs and sugary layers of vocals into the sweetest confection of an album you'll hear all year. Opener "A Good Start" is propelled by a vicious groove, setting the tone for an album more influenced by rhythm, very possibly the result of one of Maria's favorite hobbies: playing the drums. "Smile and Wave" weaves a bed of "Strawberry Fields"-esque mellotron with ribbons of Maria's rich voice, while "My Own Fault" strips everything down to a sparse drum machine, a dry electric guitar and a seasick organ mingling with Maria's lament. "Irish Goodbye" picks up where 11:11's "One for the Stockholder" left off, dancing in a place where acoustic guitars mix effortlessly with a crisp electronic beat, and "Lost Time," with its lone acoustic guitar, melancholy piano and plaintive vocal, reminds us of some of the moments that made us entranced by Maria Taylor in the first place: a voice as smooth and sweet as honey spinning marvelous, insightful tales of the world around us with much aplomb. As far as we're concerned, that's certainly something worth falling for.

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