ALBUM REVIEW: Julian Taylor Stares into the Abyss on Haunting New ‘Pathways’

“You’ve been so hard on yourself / It’s time to let things soften,” murmurs Julian Taylor on “Weighing Down,” the haunting leadoff track on his new album, Pathways. A veteran singer-songwriter with more than two decades’ experience, this soft-spoken Canadian might be the best unlicensed therapist you’ll ever encounter, offering empathy and occasional hard truths as he strives to make a difficult world more bearable.

Taylor brings a quietly commanding voice to his weighty discourses, suggesting that determination is the key to meeting any challenge. Though he is always front and center, as befits a lonely truth-seeker, he has a trusty support crew. Producer Colin Linden fashions a clean, intimate setting for these brooding songs, occasionally adding understated Dobro, mandolin, and bluesy electric guitar. Viktor Krauss (bass) and Jim Hoke (sax, steel, accordion) supply small yet vivid dashes of color.

Taylor often takes the long view, trying to comprehend life’s twists and turns. Enhanced by Allison Russell’s striking harmony vocal, the elegant title track muses, “Life, it’s the strangest thing … so many changes.” It then advises, “Be gentle, be kind / Be grateful.”

In the sinuous “Ain’t Life Strange” he confesses, “I see where I went wrong and all I could have done,” though Taylor seems more amazed by the sheer mystery of being alive than defeated by setbacks.

He strikes a sweeter note on “Love Letters,” a charming waltz celebrating romantic messages “through the ages,” recalling how “Vita wrote to Virginia / And Johnny wrote to June,” and sending his own plea “from my love to your heart.” That beautiful glow is fleeting, however.

Elsewhere, Taylor confronts society’s ills and his own flaws with unsparing candor. The eerie “Sixth Line Road” surveys the wreckage spawned by racist police, noting, “Each inch of pavement tells a story of grief.” The churning rocker “Running Away” wonders, “Am I really getting over it, or am I just running away?,” confessing, “I’m just a little jaded deep inside.” Given all the troubles Taylor explores so fearlessly, jaded doesn’t sound so bad.

The artist ends this thoughtful album on a chilling note with “Into the Waves,” a melancholy ballad framed by woozy steel guitar. Voicing weary concern, he addresses a downcast soul who traveled an “empty endless street for love,” and ultimately “walked into the waves,” echoing how Virginia Woolf – previously referenced in “Love Letters” – ended her life. Too honest to offer false hope, but too compassionate to look away, Julian Taylor is an insightful observer of humanity’s relentless drama.

Julian Taylor’s Pathways releases Sep. 27 on Aporia Records.