CD Reviews

Maria Taylor

Lynn Teeter Flower | Saddle Creek

By MATT ASHARE | March 12, 2007

3.0 Stars

Singing in harmony with Orenda Fink in the indie-folk duo Azure Ray, Maria Taylor sounded so at home that it seemed a waste when the two pursued solo careers two years ago. So the arrival of Taylor’s 11:11 (Saddle Creek) in 2005 was more than just a pleasant surprise — it marked the welcome arrival of a pleasantly familiar yet alluring songwriting voice shot through with wit and wisdom, beauty and depth, introspective darkness and infectious light. Lynn Teeter Flower — an in-joke tied to a track of the same title that closes the disc with a little girl belting those words into a studio microphone — delivers on the promise of 11:11. There are Feisty electro-acoustic tracks like the slow-driving “Irish Goodbye” with its technofied beat, strummed guitar, and a rap by someone named RIG. And there are skeletal lo-fi tunes, like “Clean Getaway,” with its melancholy mood and wry lines — “I met someone at the bar/He had a great smile and a great heart/It felt just like love/Except no fear of losing and it wasn’t tough” — giving way to the more hopeful “I finally made a clean getaway.” Taylor isn’t afraid to fall back on her old folky ways, with Bright Eyes’ Conor Oberst helping out on vocals in the harmony-rich, rootsy “The Ballad of Sean Foley.” But with the piano-driven “Replay” and the organ-laced “Smile and Wave,” she embraces full-bodied production and a bold yet reflective sensibility that takes advantage of her talents as a singer, a songwriter, and a sonic sculptress.

Maria Taylor + Brendan Little + Mean Creek | T.T. the Bear’s Place, 10 Brookline Street, Cambridge | March 18 | 617.492.BEAR

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Topics: CD Reviews , Bright Eyes, Conor Oberst, Maria Taylor, More

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Maria Taylor, "Good Start" (mp3)

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