Reviews
Artists: Sean Taylor + Louise Jordan
Venue: Salisbury Arts Centre
Town: Salisbury
Date: 14th May
Website:
http://www.seantaylorsongs.com
I don't know why I don't go to Salisbury Arts Centre to see bands more often. It's got all the key ingredients, great sound, good atmosphere and well and sympathetically lit stage, reasonably priced beer and on all the occasions that I've been there, a really discerning choice of music.
I've driven up to Salisbury to see top acoustic blues player Sean Taylor, but upon reaching the venue, I discover I'm in for a bit of a bonus as there's an unannounced support artist, Louise Jordan. I had the pleasure of reviewing Louise's debut EP "Born To Wander" and featured the title track on the Fatea Showcase Session Spring 11 Abstracts not long after.
Louise's high, soaring vocal seemed as excellent accompaniment to the venue as she sang mainly folk songs that might easily have been familiar to the converted church cum arts centre when it was young. Those traditional songs were mixed in with a number of Louise's own song and supported via guitar.
It was easy to see that she'd struck a chord with the audience as the applause through her set moved from polite and lukewarm to clearly enthusiastic by the end of her set. Louise mentioned that she's hoping to get an album out by the end of the year, if this was an example there's no shortage of good songs.
Sean Taylor is one of the best acoustic blues players out on the circuit at the moment. He's also the only guitarist that I know that uses a double capote on his strings. He's a pretty good piano player as well, but without a grand in sight, I pretty sure he's only going to be playing guitar tonight and maybe just a little blues harp.
With four albums behind him now, Taylor has got a really good set of songs to draw on, many of them self penned , but always willing to put in a song by the artists that have influenced and affected him. He's also one of the few blues guys I know that includes a Shakespeare sonnet in their set, which gives new meaning to the bard.
Sean can play the deep down and dirty blues, almost verging on the filthy at times, but there's also an air of innocence to some of his more delicate songs, it reminds me of the old blues guys playing Saturday night in the bars and speakeasies before dragging their sorry arses down to the church in the morning to play for redemption.
It might not be redemption that Sean Taylor is after, but he's certainly not afraid to wear his left wing credentials on his sleeve, both in song and during the between song banter. You can tell by the way he delivers his music, just how passionate he is about it and if he can attach that to a cause so much the better.
It's an absolutely fantastic night, he pretty much picked up the audience from the get go and seemed to revel in the feedback he was getting from them. I don't know what it was like on stage, but from out in the crowd it was sounding absolutely spot on.
I've heard Sean many times now, but from where I was sat, I was struggling to think of a time when I've heard him sound better. The combination of the acoustics of the form church that is Salisbury Arts Centre and the guitar and voice of Sean Taylor, well it was pretty much heavenly.
Neil King(words and pics)