Sean Taylor
Album: The Only Good Addiction Is Love
Label: Self Released
Tracks: 11
Website: http://www.seantaylorsongs.com

I've followed Sean Taylor's career with a significant amount of interest over the years, progressing from a very good singer songwriter to an exceptional one. Whilst that debut album, "Corrugations", now pales by comparison to "The Only Good Addiction Is Love", it shows where Sean started and how far he has come from an already very high baseline.

Every new Sean Taylor is a natural progression from the last, he's not an artist to rest on his laurels and produce another album that is similar to its predecessor simply because the album proved popular and reached out to a specific audience, rather he has adopted the approach of taking the next steps on the journey and hoping that the audience follows. It's an approach that has served him well and will almost certainly do so again with "The Only Good Addiction Is Love".

There are essentially four good reasons for that, three of them are familiar across his entire canon of work, the strength of his song writing, his mastery of guitar, the different sounds and styles he gets out of his instrument, from warm and welcoming to providing harsh emphasis in his more political songs, and his piano work, providing an increasingly used dynamic across his songs. The forth is less tangible and relies on the way he now collaborates with other musicians, most notably Danny Thompson, but also other players on the album to provide a different dynamic to the sound and also through the arrangements and production. "The Only Good Addiction Is Love" was, like it's immediate predecessors was produced in the States by Mark Hallman.

One of the great things about this internet age is that it has broken down barriers between genres, artists have less need to tie their flag to any individual musical pole, rather celebrate the multitude of influence that the artist has encountered both in their life and music. The influences of jazz, blues, folk and soul, creating new combinations of sounds that Sean has turned to his own. Similarly songs can be emotional, political, allegorical, whatever and still sit happily side by side.

There is so much to recommend "The Only Good Addiction Is Love", not least the narrative that flows not just through the individual songs, but as a thread, a story arc, if you like, through the entire album, something that in itself justifies getting the album as a whole, though every song and tune is more than capable of standing as a piece in their own right. And mentioning the songs and tunes really bring me to the melody.

Even though a more band approach has been taken to a number of the songs, there is still a sparseness to them, a feeling that every note counts and that each song could still hold the attention if performed just by one man and his guitar and or piano.

Whilst it's an easy album to listen to from the get go, you very quickly realise that there are shedloads of nuances and inflections to be taken in during subsequent listens that like a fine wine, there are subtleties of flavour that build up that more complex taste, that are there to tantalise the musical pallet rather than necked for instant gratification, though if instant gratification is what you are after, this will slake a thirst.

Sean Taylor, is an exceptional talent and one that is starting to get a recognition that some say is long overdue. "The Only Good Addiction Is Love" is an album that should keep his current fans on the journey, but also bring in many new travellers. The remarkable thing is, as with every other album of his that I've reviewed, it genuinely is his strongest yet and that's not to say you should ignore is back catalogue because they are still chocked through with remarkable songs.

Neil King