Rating: 3 Pulses
Occasionally, good artists put too much on their first full-length album. Taylor Davis is one of them. An exceptional live performer with a raspy soulful voice and smooth stage presence, Taylor Davis may even consider Murfreesboro his home away from home, playing gigs in Texas to being a featured performer at Acoustic Nights at the Boro.
Davis almost looks like Elvis Costello’s long lost brother, and could possibly be Radney Foster’s cousin. This 23-year-old has potential?he’s capable of writing strong jazzy ballads to folk/pop tracks that are powerful and intense.
His latest album, Motel Songs, details the world of the tragic love affair, cursed from the beginning yet attempting to hold on tightly to a surreal world. The content is sometimes humorous as Davis takes a different approach on the little worries of love in a relationship, playing on our own insecurities.
Davis’ style is a mixture of folk, pop and rock with touches of jazz and country influence. His ambience is powerful, drawing upon the influences of the Counting Crows and Ryan Adams. As he stumbles and swoons over his melodic material, Davis is able to bring the audience in close, letting them in on stories of a young man collecting the broken pieces of his love.
Ambitious and intimate, this album paints the picture of open possibility, creating a world that we have thought about but never talked about.
The musicianship of the 12-song album is remarkable, full of carefully planned melodies and thoughtful lyrics. Unfortunately, the album becomes repetitive around the eighth track, almost like the last four songs could have been combined with the earlier tracks. Davis could have just used eight tracks to explain his personal take on troubled love. This distraction takes away from the strong overall affect that the album gives, almost getting in the way of the impressive storytelling. If the album was cut shorter, this album would be better and more focused, though it is still very good.
The record does show glimpses of Davis’ live performances, but his album overall is muddled at times and unclear. If he was able to bring his live performance to his recording, this album would be a 4 out of 5 pulses.
Despite the latter part of the album, Davis holds the listener’s interest as he explores past love. He has shown that his intense lyrics and demanding content have great potential.
