Brilliant Blue by Rachel Taylor-Beales

They spent the next 4 years traveling round on variety of modes of transport from push bikes to station wagons held together with string, and after playing and painting in all kinds of places, they formed a performing arts company, 3 Chord Trick (Now Collective AM). Along the way they picked up other singer-songwriters, dancers and a rainmaker and decided firmly never to get proper jobs. Since then they have composed and performed their way through theatres, schools, prisons, pubs, clubs, festivals and even an audio book and played an extensive tour of the UK and America. Now based in Cardiff, Wales, Rachel has established herself as a solo artist, self-releasing her debut album Brilliant Blue and subsequently being signed to Martyn Josephs own label, Pipe Records. Her tastes range from Jasper Fforde to Camus, Green and Blacks to Haribo fixes, G 'n' T to communion wine. And her CD player these days is stocked with Waits, Orton, Dylan, Cave as well as Iron and Wine, Di Franco, Sufjan Stevens and much more.

Reviews...

'With Rachel Taylor-Beales, not only do you get acutely crafted and captivating songs, but oh, that voice, with its power and delicacy. Such quality of interpretation, the kind that results in fan mail from angels. A rich and tender talent'.

Stewart Henderson, poet and BBC Radio 4 presenter

Americana UK

8 out of 10

Thea Gilmore has, for quite sometime now, been Britain’s female solo artist you’re allowed to like. Well, there’s a new kid on the block – enter Rachel Taylor-Beales. ‘Brilliant Blue’ is her debut solo album and , for want of a better description, it’s brilliantly blue. Easily as blue as Joni Mitchell’s Blue, if not more so. Here are ten torch songs put together with a whole bunch of of heart, everyone an understated epic of economy and emotion. Flitting between piano and acoustic guitar, each song is tear-drenched odyssey with Beales’ battered vocals surely a lesson in soulfulness that Norah Jones might want to attend.

Irish Evening Herald

'Brilliant Blue' is the striking debut album from Cardiff-based singer/songwriter/...Rachel Taylor-Beales, the first signing to Welsh troubadour Martyn Joseph's Pipe label. Warm vocals and dreamy piano improvisations bring Joni Mitchell's 'Blue' to mind (and set one to wondering whether the title is an intentional nod), with Taylor-Beales' excellent soprano sax playing adding a jazz element to the mix. Penultimate track 'Shuttle Bus 38' is a lovely, lyrically evocative ode to life on the road that gets two reworkings here: 'Oh Sister' takes the final two lines and resets them as a gospel chorus over a stark Nick Drake-ish guitar backing, while a hidden track at the end gives the full song a more complex, upbeat treatment that builds over five-plus minutes to an a cappella choral finale.

Sarah McQuaid

Taplas Magazine

...'one of the most coherent albums I’ve listened to in a long time. There are overtones of Beth Orton, Joni Mitchell and, to my ears, even Nick Cave and Tom Waits. These are songs that demand to be listened to and, indeed, deserve to reach a wide audience. A new talent, then, and one I look forward to hearing a lot more from.'

www.spiralearth.co.uk

The album opens at it's most ethereal with rainfall and spectral vocals on 'For the Day'. It's a brave introduction and must be a difficult sound to capture. Rachel's supplies her own haunting soprano sax line. Elsewhere in the studio her duties include guitar and keyboards.

Roaming piano, syncopated guitar and even marimbas usher in further tracks. All prove to be a worthy accompaniment for Rachel's soulful voice. The supporting cast, which includes the multi-skilled Bill deserve rich reward for their sterling work.

The title track is a fine example of her own blend of avant-folk topped off with perfect beat poetry. It beautifully describes some captured moments,

'The scene is one sunday afternoon and the sun

shines through brilliant blue.'

The lyrics on all of the tracks continue in the same effortless vein. They transcend the more haphazard musings of others and hint at a rich life history with their wry observations.

Numerous people have swayed Rachel's sound. She can sail pretty close to Tori Amos on 'Cut' and 'Shuttle Bus 38' and 'Oh Sister' would sit nicely on any Gillian Welch album. This isn't wanton plagiarism though. Her tracks can turn on a few pivotal notes and take you elsewhere. Once you've been through Ani Difranco, Kristin Hersch and Joni Mitchell you give up on thoughts of reproduction. This is Rachel's own sound and it is totally convincing.

It would be churlish to critisize but the closer '10,000 Miles' lacks a little melodic punch despite being a funked up fuzz workout. What it does reveal though is that she has ideas to spare.

Martyn Joseph has made an astute decision to sign Rachel Taylor-Beales. 'Brilliant Blue' shows off a rare and majestic contemporary talent. It's time to indulge yourself and be dazzled.

David Kushar

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