Every now and then, I’m late to the party. Like, several years late. In this case, it’s about three years. Admittedly, the time was quite fortunate in some respects, though. After buying a banjo last fall and adamantly deciding I’m going to use it for anything-but-bluegrass and trying to decide between clawhammer and finger style, I understand at least a thing or two about banjo technique. Not TOO much, but enough to see there’s some potential to cross over into other genres. I have yet to feed mine through a reverb/delay/fuzz pedal, but it’ll happen at some point.
That said, Taylor Ashton is most certainly a proof-of-concept type album. Most of my inspiration for banjo is from the world of indie rock (Frontier Ruckus, Adjy, and the like), but this is the first release I’ve heard that seems to approximate the boundaries of pop. Some people might argue that Judah and the Lion qualify here, but Ashton’s songs are something else. His voice is radio-friendly. His lyrics are witty and poetic. His banjo parts are never a gimmick. So, things are a bit too intelligent to be compared to Top 40s if I’m honest, but there’s most assuredly a coffee house vibe at play.
There’s plenty of other instrumentation at play, too – guitar, piano, drums, and bass round out the standard fare of instruments. Individual tracks lean in different directions, of course. “Fortnight” is a sultry piano piece where Ashton quips, “You still call me fourteen times a fortnight.” “F.L.Y.” kicks things off the album with a retro beachy vibe with a guitar-voice intro. “Everybody Used to Be a Baby” feels like Springsteen-lite in some way with a saxophone solo. In some ways, I’m reminded of the quirky vintage pop antics of Sean McVerry (both vocally and otherwise). And while the songs do benefit from Ashton’s banjo parts, they’d just as easily survive without this. They’ve got solid foundations that transcend any particular single instrument.
“Straight Back” is a folk-tinged track that relates bad posture to a broken relationship. It’s another example of Ashton’s lyrical prowess, and it pairs banjo-driven verses with a poppy, sing-a-long chorus and tight rhythm section. It’s definitely a great starting point to see what Ashton is about.
Not every song even features banjo. “Fallen Down Tree” is perhaps a more typical soulful indie track, albeit with a string crescendo toward the end. It’s on the slower and sadder side of things, but Ashton pulls this off just as easily.
Ashton’s strength, quite simply, is in his songwriting. Banjo is merely one tool in his toolbox, and he understand where it fits in his arrangements. It’s always cool to say instruments typically tied to a particular family of genres brought into a new context. It’s inspiring. But it’s not the only thing that makes this album work. The compositions are careful and dynamic. The lyrics are mature. Even so, there’s a lot of pop appeal and a decent degree of familiarity. Ashton has released more music already, but this album still serves as a great introduction for listeners looking for a fresh angle on singer-songwriter and indie pop sounds.
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