Review: Beyond The Reservoir – Julian Taylor

‘Beyond The Reservoir’ is the exciting new album from Toronto based singer-songwriter Julian Taylor. The album opens with the melancholy ‘Moonlight’ with it’s beautiful backing vocals and Hammond B3 laying the foundations. The swooning pedal steel making you feel at home, this track is a strong opening to a well written record. The single ‘Seeds’ with it’s upbeat folksy feel to it, dives into the themes of loss and rising from the the ashes of that. Taylor’s conversational style vocals are stronger than they’ve ever been, the melodies on this track are catchy and could help it cross over into the mainstream. The record is one of his most personal to date and you can hear the vulnerability in his voice in certain tracks where he perfectly balances the emotion. In the closing track, ‘Opening the Sky’ he sends a message to his daughter, “What I’m saying to her here is, it’s ok to keep going”. The whole record boasts a polished production which is credit to Taylor and Saam Hashemi. This is Taylor’s best work to date and a strong contender for one of the records of the year!