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Mirrors and Windows has
been named one of the 12
Best Recordings of 2004 by Soundstage,
along with CDs by such artists as Brian Wilson, Wilco, Los Lobos,
and Peter Mulvey
Review at Wood
& Steel
Top Pick of the week at the
Washington Post MP3 site + a review here
Interview at FOLKWAX
Soundstage.com | No
Depression | The
Washington Times | Folk & Acoustic
Music Exchange | Sing Out! | Dirty
Linen
Dulcie Taylor - Mirrors and Windows
Black Iris Records MBR2004
Released: 2004
by David Cantor
davidc@soundstage.com
Dulcie Taylor’s second CD, Mirrors and Windows, is striking
in its variety, yet you don’t find yourself thinking, "She’s
all over the place and can’t seem to find her voice." Instead,
you figure she must be covering lots of different people’s
songs. But no -- she wrote or co-wrote every one. What we have here
is a very talented songwriter and performer.
The opening song, "Blackberry Winter," distinguished by
its somewhat Byrds-like electric 12-string guitar, pulls off something
often achieved in traditional ballads and literature, but only occasionally
in the work of such gifted contemporary songwriters as Gordon Lightfoot,
Joni Mitchell, James Taylor, and the Rankins. It presents us with
lyrics about weather, landscape, and animals as metaphors for human
experience in a manner that isn’t forced or superficial.
Cold spell started yesterday
Nearly freezing in the month of May
But spring is still here, she hasn’t surrendered
She’ll come through this blackberry winter
The song comes into greater focus in the next few lines.
Saw a fox down in the meadow
Looked like he was running for his life
Maybe he’s confused with the change in the weather
Wish I could tell him everything’s all right
As the song develops, Taylor's shows her craft as a lyricist who
is a model of succinctness and deceptive simplicity.
You and I are caught in some trouble
Feels like we’re running for our lives
If we don’t stand up and face it together
We can kiss our love goodbye
Taylor again shows both her lyrical sure touch and her songwriting
skill in "Seaboard Train," the catchiest song on the disc.
The fine background vocals by Mark Thomas might be well described
as "roots rock ‘n’ roll," but that doesn’t
capture the impact of the low, multi-part call-and-response-style
echoing of the phrases Taylor sings in the refrain ("Won’t
you carry me home (carry me home), carry me home (carry me home)").
The call-and-response, the blues-roots chord progression, and the
centrality of "carry me home," as in "Swing Low, Sweet
Chariot," give the song a special spiritual-gospel flavor. And
in the great tradition of railroad ballads, Taylor’s harmonica
in the introduction imitates an approaching train’s whistle.
It takes us out at the end with the lonesome sound of a train fading
into the countryside. These touches are subtle and skillful, not
corny or phony.
Accompanying Taylor’s harmonica opening to that one is Duke
Levine’s slide guitar, providing its own train-whistle sound.
Levine contributes a great deal to this album. It sounds as if he
practiced the 12-string and 6-string electric, lap steel, and slide
guitars for years just to record this disc. Also stellar here is
Lorne Entress on drums. Sometimes talented drummers sound like they’re
just putting in studio time monotonously backing up folk or country
music. Entress really helps these songs communicate. Particularly
striking is the rhythm he creates in "Out of My Blood," nearly
identical to that of The Beatles’ "Tomorrow Never Knows" --
though the two songs could hardly be more different.
Taylor’s engaging voice is equally at home in the rocking
up-tempo songs. This entire disc only includes ten songs, though,
so there isn’t enough time for any one tendency of the writer-performer
to take over. That’s not to say it’s a skimpy album:
The briefest track lasts longer than three minutes, and most are
in the range of four to five. The songs are nicely paced -- the quick
ones are never rushed, nor are the slow ones burdened with dead time.
From listening over and over and over to Mirrors and Windows, I
am not surprised that Taylor’s first CD, Diamond & Glass
won a Wammie -- Washington Area Music Award -- for Best Contemporary
Folk Recording. She was also a finalist in the Chris Austin songwriting
Contest at Merlefest in Wilkesboro, North Carolina. A
lover of poetry and prose, she was elected to the Board of
Directors of the Poetry Series at the prestigious Folger Shakespeare
Library, in Washington, D.C. This is an impressive series of achievements
for this gifted musician.
DULCIE TAYLOR
Mirrors & Windows
Black Iris
Dulcie Taylor has been making a name for herself in the mid-Atlantic,
winning songwriting awards in Washington, DC, and at Merlefest for
her thoughtful, direct slices of life. Mirrors & Windows, her
second album, should go a long way in establishing her in the singer
side of the singer-songwriter equation.
The real gems find Taylor lending her clarion voice to rootsier sounds,
as on "Seaboard Train", with its gospel quartet-style backing
vocals and electric slide, and the delicate "Other Side of the
Bed", where she writes not only her epitaph but her 15-second
soundbite in case she's ever interviewed on TV about the meaning
of life.
Throughout the writing is smart, witty, and heartfelt. The real knockout
is "Woman I Used To Be", an eerie insistent rumination
on rediscovering one's lost self. Sustained guitar harmonics and
crash symbols evoke both a sense of loss and a desire to defeat personal
demons.
Helping Taylor is a collection of crack studio musicians, including
Chapin Carpenter vet Duke Levine (whose twelve-string electric guitar
solo shines on "Blackberry Winter") and Lorne Entress on
percussion. Taylor's own dulcimer appears on the album's closer,
the lullaby-like "Love Like Yours And Mine".
---Eric Schumacher-Rasmussen, No Depression
Dulcie Taylor
Mirrors and Windows
Black Iris Records
Miss Taylor casts aside any notion of sophomore slump in her second disc, "Mirrors
and Windows." Filled with pop sensibility and radio-friendly sound, Miss
Taylor remains true to the artistic vision she established in "Diamond and
Glass," with thoughtful, revealing and emotional songs.
Unlike many songwriters who indulge in introspection, Miss Taylor uses the theme
sparingly. In "The Woman I Used to Be," she addresses herself in a
full-length mirror, asking for guidance to bring herself back to simpler, better
times.
In a voice that sounds at times fragile and at other times sultry, Miss Taylor
moves gracefully in and out of urgent and romantic themes as well as between
rock and country sounds.
Session guitarist Duke Levine takes up the electric 12-string and lap steel to
great effect in Miss Taylor's radio-friendly opening track, "Blackberry
Winter." Tinged with guitar strains reminscent of Roger McGuinn, it makes
listeners sit up and take notice.
But Miss Taylor proves she has a way with words, as well. In "Maybe," the
singer is looking back on a failed love affair and the compromises it entailed. "Maybe
the truth lies somewhere between the light of day and the shadow of a dream," she
sings.
Miss Taylor wrote or co-wrote all 10 tracks. Two of the songs were written with
guitarist John Landau, who has been accompanying Miss Taylor on tour.
JAY VOTEL, The Washington Times
Dulcie Taylor - Mirrors and Windows
Black Iris Records - 2004
With this new disc from Dulcie Taylor there is significant growth
from the first disc on Black Iris, and that was a very solid effort.
These songs reflect the germination of ideas that have taken place
in the intervening time between the recording of these two discs.
On this second go round from Black Iris Records, as the first, she
either wrote or co-wrote all the songs that we are presented with
for our auditory pleasure. These songs wander the ground that varies
from folk to roots rock, "Seaboard Train," around some
meanders and down some gullies to some country acoustic sounds, to
some Byrds influenced country rock. There are also a few cuts such
as "Love Like yours and Mine" that are straight, no frills
attached, acoustic mountain beauty. On this cut with its sparse accompaniment
Dulcie shines on the dulcimer, and her voice shows all of its southern
rural roots. She is a true Southern Lady and by place of birth this
southern grace and gentility is reflected in her songs. Her song
writing is a refreshing product of her heritage. These songs are
sensitive to the situation without ever becoming maudlin or sappy,
a rare achievement. She is constantly changing up the pacing and
tempos to keep the listener on their toes and interested. Taylor
has that ability to take the music she grew up with and bring it
into a modern time and form without it losing any of the charm that
made it memorable. There is a craft to writing songs that are both
memorable and noteworthy, and this woman has it in abundance.
Dulcie, as well as songwriter, contributes some accomplished harmonica, dulcimer,
and guitar playing. She is joined here by a number of fine musicians including;
Duke Levine (Mary Chapin Carpenter's band) on lap steel and guitars; Richard
Gates (Suzanne Vega) on bass; Lorne Entress on drums and percussion (Mighty
Sam McClain); John Landau (her regular touring guitar player) on guitars and
some vocals; and Michael Bellar on Hammond B3 (Art Garfunkel). These guys play
with great sensitivity; they lay back enough to support her vocals and songs,
and then step up at the proper time to enhance the songs and bring some memorable
musicianship to the disc without taking anything away from the song.
This is a very fine and accomplished disc that brings to light a southern heritage
that was in danger of fading.
Bob Gottlieb, Folk & Acoustic Music Exchange
DULCIE TAYLOR
Mirrors & Windows
Black Iris 2004
Dulcie Taylor's first album Diamond & Glass won her a Washington
Area Music Association award (WAMMIE) as Best Contemporary Folk Album
for 2002. Mirrors and Windows may put her in the running for this
year's award as well. Although the album's sound is more country
that "folk", it is a diverse hard-driving and well-written
contemporary country sound with many points of comparison to the
style of Emmylou Harris. Moreover, the album uses some of the Northeast's
most talented musicians including John Landau, Duke Levine, Richard
Gates, Lorne Entress, and Michael Bellar.
Taylor's original lyrics are poetic, aimed at communicating with
the listener. Particularly interesting is the quirky "Woman
I Used To Be". This album has it all -- good lyrics, good
production, strong vocals, excellent sound. Recommended.
-Victor K. Heyman, Sing Out
With her second record,
Dulcie Taylor moves firmly into the country/folk/Americana
aspects of her songwriting,. She retains a bit of the jazz
flavor and all of the storytelling skill, as well as the varied
and engaging singing, of her award winning debut Diamond and Glass,
but this time out she takes those talents further down a country
road with splashes of folk, rock, and blues added for color. "Blackberrry
Winter," the opening track, finds the songwriter likening the surprises
of love to the surprises of spring weather; in "Seaboard Train" she
takes listeners on a folk/rock/blues ride across emotional and
geographical territory. "Out of My Blood" is a tale of lover's
regret that moves further into blues, while "Ice Melts" is just
the sort of vividly imagined stone-country tale you could imagine
on a Sara Evans record. Not that Taylor needs any help
with the singing: She has a fine, flexible storyteller's
style and a graceful voice with the flavor of her South Carolina
roots
Dirty Linen review, by Kerry
Dexter
Please
click here to read Reviews of Dulcie's First CD, Diamond and
Glass
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