Julian Taylor Returns with a Massive and Genuine Release

Julian Taylor returns with a full length album that reaches into the depths of charisma, struggle, honesty, personality, character, and it's all done with a beautifully blended set of songwriting approaches that take elements of folk, country, Americana, and rock, putting them together to create these particular kinds of atmospheres per each individual song but building it so that the entire album, as a whole, is very confluent, consistent, and has messaging behind it.

Now, this is not exactly a concept album. The songs do tell lots of stories, and a lot of them do feel pretty personal, so the record really kind of feels like chapters in someone's life.

Obviously, Julian pulled from a lot of life experience and personal emotion to create this record, and when you listen to it all the way through, you are able to take in the full experience.

This is something I feel like the record was meant for. This is meant to be heard from beginning to end so that you can connect the dots between the stories in any way you like, but also get all of the stories so that you can paint the full picture of what's going on and who Julian is as a person.

This is an artist who's definitely unafraid to give pieces of himself in his music; we already know this. However, this record delves a lot deeper and doesn't hold much back in the way of being very upfront, straightforward, and honest with all kinds of different attributes to how he became the person he is today.

Anthology Vol.2 is absolutely huge, spanning 21 tracks and almost an hour and a half in length.

I know that's a lot to soak in but, again, if you listen to the entire thing the songs connect because he's telling stories about his life in different perspectives. This is really important because although it's not exactly a concept record, you don't want to skip around.

The songs are almost like chapters of a book. You don't want to skip chapters in a book so I would certainly not suggest skipping songs on this record either.

Right off the bat, the first track, "Hunger", reaches into an almost 1960s era of songwriting and lyrical approach. This is such a unique track because it does indeed make me think of songwriting from previous decades.

Lyrics are strung together, and how he's able to paint that picture so vividly as the song unfolds is absolutely incredible.

This starts to give you a little bit of a grasp of some of the many, many influences that the artist holds dear.

Now this track itself does come through in a vintage style songwriting approach, but still hits this great folk overtone.

A lot of the songs have a southern sort of twang to them, including this one. Some are a little bit deeper than others in terms of pushing forward that southern attribute.

"Ain't Life Strange" delves deep into some storytelling once again and starts bringing in some great instrumentation that helps really push more of that Americana style forward. You can definitely tell Country and Americana are his go-to influences, but he does incorporate rock and folk in there quite often as well.

Sounds like "Wide Awake" leans more towards the country style and tonality, with lap steel flowing through the background of the track and soft, subtle vocals that are telling a story you get attached to pretty quickly.

Now, we're no strangers to Julian Taylor and some of the singles he's released previously. This record is something that really blew me away because, although I've heard a few singles before, this album is absolutely massive and can branch off in different directions

It has a unique way of keeping you on your toes, which I really adored.

The way Julian can take current and vintage country influences and tones and put them together seamlessly is absolutely impressive. Some of these songs come although quite new, feel like they were written again, in decades past. This is something that really connected me with the record because there's something about the authenticity in the tone of the instruments and in the way that he is singing that makes perfect sense.

Although some of this record does incorporate rock as well, most of it has a very warm and sort of inviting tonality. He's inviting you to listen to these stories, and it feels like sitting around a campfire and listening to stories about someone's life.

A lot of the songs really have that attribute, and I think that's why the record comes through as impactful as it does.

Now, this is a record with some surprises around its corners, as I mentioned earlier. Yes, he does have a subtle and smooth kind of vocal when he's telling particular kinds of stories, but that also depends on the energy in the mood of the track itself.

One of my favorites is the closing track, "Living on 45", in which he's again, definitely giving some honesty and telling a story with amazing detail and description, but he belts it out. He really puts himself out there in terms of not just vocal ability, but more in an emotional sense.

There's definitely loads of emotion laid throughout this entire record, and it's something that again, if you listen to it all the way through, in one shot, it's amazing to experience.

These are all different stories that come together into one big one.

So, definitely dive into this one because you will not soon regret it.

This was one of the most satisfying records with so much character packed into it that I've heard in a very long time.

Then again, knowing some of Julian's music, I'm not very surprised.

Remember where you heard this first.

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