Ottawa’s Rory Taillon will be playing a handful of performances this week as part of the Living Roots Music Festival’s 2018 lineup.
Matt Carter
Ottawa’s Rory Taillon returns to Fredericton this week for performances under the Living Roots Music Festival banner. A past performer of the festival, Taillon is back again this year in support of his latest album, Only Whispers, his third full-length album and possibly his darkest to date.
“It was my first album in a few years and it’s a collection of songs that I thought would work best with how I wanted to put the album together and record it,” said Taillon. “It’s a very dark album, which is not uncommon for me, but I wanted to put it all out there in a way that suited this particular collection of songs best.”
Following the opening track Smile, with its dark and menacing mix of heavy guitar and vocals that offer Taillon a chance to showcase his powerful depth and range as a singer, the album continues on through a range of stripped-down instrumentation guided more often than not by a considerably softer dynamic.
“This album is different for me because it’s the first ‘solo’ album,” said Taillon. “My other releases where a combination of band and solo tracks, but this one is strictly solo with some guest musicians adding character to some tracks.”
With the exception of just two tracks, the bulk of Only Whispers was recorded by live-off-the-floor in the back room of a church.
“I wanted the album to be able to capture what my live show is like, but because of my volume and dynamics it has always been a challenge,” said Taillon. “To record, I set up the way I would at a show and performed. I then plugged in a few extra parts afterward over the foundation of guitar, vocals and drum.”
Taillon has three performances at this year’s festival with shows at Grimross Brewing Co., Wilser’s Room and the Barnhouse Pub Family Restaurant in Keswick. Performing on bills with TWIN, Irish Mythen, Colin Fowlie and others, Taillon’s mix of folk and alt-rock influences are a perfect fit for the festival’s diverse lineup.
“I don’t think most folk listeners would consider me folk, even though I’m just one guy and an acoustic guitar,” said Taillon. “I can be a little more intense and aggressive than what most would consider folk, but it’s not rock either. When deciding on what genre we could tell people the album is, we decided to go with alternative-folk.”
Upcoming Performances:
May 24 | Barnhouse Pub Family Restaurant | Keswick, NB
May 25 | Grimross Brewing Co | Fredericton, NB
May 26 | Wilser’s Room | Fredericton, NB
May 27 | Railcar Brewing Co. | Perth-Andover, NB
Photo by Natalie Austin
