Written by Marilù Ciabattoni
Discovered via Musosoup
Ever heard of “Anglo-Latin” music? No worries: British singer-songwriter Simon Taylor is here to help.
His latest EP Karma isn’t your classic country/folk album. As somebody who doesn’t usually listen to these genres, it is, in fact, extremely catchy: alternating between ballads and slightly faster tracks, Simon’s voice and guitar guide us through the musical journey he created.
This mastery in songwriting isn’t random, as the artist has been writing music for over twenty years now, inspired by lyrical geniuses like the Canadian Leonard Cohen and the French Serge Gainsbourg. Besides this, Simon talks past, present and future in his interview for Lost in the Manor!
Introduce yourself: Who is Simon Taylor? How and when was the project born?
I am a singer-songwriter from Newcastle upon Tyne who started writing songs twenty years ago with an interest in making music that mixed Latin and Anglo-Saxon musical cultures. I liked Brazilian music and flamenco but also British folk-rock artists like John Martyn and Nick Drake. I suppose my project was born of a desire to make a kind of “Anglo-Latin” music.
How has your music changed in the past few years?
I think there has been a constant over the years of writing more classic/old-fashioned melodies. However, the biggest change was probably between 2019-2022 when I self-recorded two EPs after always having recorded in studios up until this point. This accounts for possibly the favourite music I have created so far personally just because I spent so much time labouring over it.
Who inspired your music? Who are your biggest influences?
My biggest influences are “classic” artists like Leonard Cohen and Serge Gainsbourg. Artists who take time over the lyrical content though I will certainly admit not going into anything like the obsessive level of detail of Leonard Cohen’s. Cohen also played classical guitar and seemed to be influenced by European folk music which I think are other similarities. Overall, a big influence is European and South American music, artists like Seu Jorge and Antonio Carlos Jobim.
Could you introduce your favourite singles you've released so far?
Two of my favourite singles I’ve released so far are quite different but both are from my “Survival” EP, which I released last year and which was based around the theme of mental health. One of these singles was called “Our Crazy Dream.” It was a folk-pop track which featured classical guitar and a vocal melody that came to me in a dream in which I witnessed the famous late 60’s singer-songwriter Tim Buckley singing this melody, (minus the lyrics) while playing live on-stage. The other single was quite different, a noir-ish funk/ rock song called “Angel Of Mercy” which I felt was my best effort so far to deal with the subject of how mental health issues have affected me in my life.
How did you develop this style? Will you experiment with other genres in the future?
I developed my style of music while teaching myself classical guitar and some flamenco, bossa nova and finger-picking patterns. I’m not a natural rocker, therefore, but would like to branch out more into this terrain in the future with some material I have already written. I’ve got to learn to play some power chords(!).
Let's talk about your latest project: What inspired it and how did it come to life?
My latest project is called “Karma”. It was created at a time of great personal difficulty in my life. The title eludes to the karma of people who were causing me a lot of unhappiness in my own life at the time I was planning the EP, and also my karma. I wrote a song with this title but it didn’t make it onto the EP. Having spent four and a half months labouring over a track that appears on the EP, (“The Zagreb Sky”), I then decided to record three singles for the e.p at one of the leading studios in my home city. I didn’t have the energy after what I’d been through to self-record another project and having mixed my previous EP I realised I was never really going to develop my mixing skills to studio-level. I also decided to work with other musicians for this project, having recorded everything myself on the previous two EPs and also decided to use real drums instead of loops.
Who produces your tracks? How do you choose which producers to work with? Do you have some dream producers you'd like to work with?
Lisa Murphy produced the Karma EP. I was pondering which producer to work with on this project and asked a mentor on a music course I was taking for their advice. They asked me: “Who do you think you’ll enjoy working with?” That was the point at which I decided I wanted to work with Lisa as I thought she would create a safe space in which I could operate as a musician - and she did. My dream producer would be someone like Tony Visconti. Well, if he’s good enough for David Bowie…
Is music your main occupation at the moment? If not, how are you conciliating your day job with your music career?
I’m just about to start working again at a music venue in Gateshead having had a break from there for five years. I’ll be working on the halls so I’ll get to see a lot of live music. Over that period I was pretty much focussing my attention on making music but there was a great deal of isolation involved in the process too with the pandemic so I thought it would be good for me socially and in terms of networking to go back to my old place of employment. It might impact my musical career in less satisfactory ways as well, (e.g. working on weekends when I should perhaps be playing). I’ll just have to see how it goes.
Have you ever been on tour? If not, would you like to embark on one? If yes, tell us about it.
I’ve not been on tour yet. I have a mental health condition and have also been diagnosed with autism so I think I would find touring very challenging, to be honest.
Who's your dream feature?
I’m a big fan of the American jazz chanteuse Melody Gardot and would love for her to duet on one of my songs. She’s probably got bigger fish to fry to be fair(!)
Where do you see yourself in one year as a musician?
In a year, I want to be gigging more than I currently am. I was put on some pretty heavy medication for my mental health a year ago and I want to continue to cut it down as it has affected my energy levels. I also want to be on the verge of releasing my next project after this current one. I’m applying for funding for that and hope to be back in the studio again in Spring 2024.
Discovered via https://app.musosoup.com #sustainablecurator