Maria Taylor live review
Maria Taylor played The Hope in Brighton on the 10th of May, supported by Boy Omega from Sweden. Maria’s a fantastic artist, shes on Omaha based Saddle Creek records and has played with Bright Eyes, formed half of Azure Ray and has two solo albums.
The evening started out with a couple of local support acts and then Maria’s fulltime support, Boy Omega took to the stage. Swedish Martin Maria likes to call him. He’s from Sweden and played alone tonight although he normally has a band apparently. His style is big sounding with emo like vocals, and whilst he was good solo it would be great to see him with his band.
After Boy Omega Maria Taylor took to the stage alongside her sister Kate, and brother Maccey and another guy with the surname Taylor who may or may not be related. For me it was great to see her as I’ve liked Maria for a few years now since she started out in Azure Ray before moving on to her solo career. I had thought I was going to see her when I went to see another band she was once in, Now Its Overhead, last month. Sadly, she had left. I didn’t know Maria’s solo stuff until I saw the advert for this gig and decided to go to make up for the previous fiasco. Her new album, Lynn Teeter Flower
Her voice is and was fantastic, despite her claim to be losing it. For the first time in ages I found myself really listening to the lyrics. One song about moving to Atlanta with her friend Orenda (Fink, from Azure Ray) described them painting walls as far as they could reach and leaving it cos it looked cool, listening to records, I found myself imagining every scene. The band were tight throughout, just as good as The Chap, who I reviewed last week, and they were one of the tightest I’d seen in ages. The (small) crowd seemed to love every second, everyone seemed intimately involved with Maria that night.
When the gig ended and I left, I found myself feeling sad, and missing the music. Last time I felt like that I’d spent the evening watching Frank Black and Kim Deal, the best gig of my life to date. On that basis, this must too be one of the most memorable gigs I’ve been to, outstandingly good, far better than any band I’ve seen this year, and a real surprise treat.
Come back soon Maria!
Buy the CD’s
Maria Taylor
Azure Ray
Two videos I took of the gig
[youtube kQQaN1iUA4A]
[youtube kbSuihnVQPI]
Video to The Song Beneath The Song
[youtube LX0AOWG9rik]