Toronto singer-songwriter and 4x JUNO nominee Julian Taylor is unveiling a new studio album, the genre-spanning work of rich inner reflection that is Pathways.
Co-produced by Taylor and Colin Linden (Emmylou Harris, Bruce Cockburn, Blackie and The Rodeo Kings), Pathways finds Taylor embracing a “simplify” mantra in his writing while showcasing his range as a writer and performer on jazz and blues inflected tracks (“Sixth Line Road,” “Running Away”), nimble and vulnerable folk (“Ain’t Life Strange,” “Weighing Down,”), and the album’s stately title track, a ballad featuring none other than Grammy award-winning songstress, Allison Russell.
Stream Pathways and/or “Love Letters” here: https://songs.juliantaylormusic.ca/pathwaysLP
Taylor collaborated with co-writer Tyler Ellis to develop the album’s focus track, “Love Letters,” a poetic and earnest folk reflection on unrequited love and how people all throughout time have poured their hearts out and written letters to people that they care about.
Gentle accordion, upright bass, and mandolin provide the track with a warm and nostalgic atmosphere, reflecting the deep history of vulnerable expressions of love which the song mines.
Pathways lays down the long, winding trail that leads its listeners toward finding their own personal zen amidst much internal discord. In Taylor’s view, three words sum Pathways up perfectly. “It’s about righteousness, acceptance, and enlightenment,” he concludes.
“On this record, I’m sharing in the struggles we all face, and I’m trying to make it better through these songs.” That assessment is the crux of what Pathways has to offer to everyone fortunate enough to cue it up.
It’s another benchmark album by the always searching, always striving career songwriter, an artist who continues to connect with his audience by creating new yet artfully familiar Pathways we can all take together — and hopefully come out the other side, all the better for having taken the journey.