Bree Taylor’s musical voyage began in the delivery room as she arrived into the world with music piped through the speakers and continued at age six when she began singing in a choir. Self-expression soon became one of her life’s dominant motifs. The Canadian born singer/songwriter released her first single “Broken Dreams” in September, 2016 and has lately relocated to Los Angeles, California for the process of writing and recording her debut EP. Never one to be creatively fallow for long, Taylor has also expanded her skill set to include television appearances on the forthcoming Canadian filmed and globally distributed show RiseUp TV which aims to follow artists’ personal lives, documenting their successes and setbacks alike, and stands set to premiere in Spring of 2018. Her new single “What You’re Looking For” is an intensely personal track and, if it can be taken as an early taste of what we can expect from her upcoming EP, it promises that Bree Taylor will be a high profile part of the music world for decades to come.
It’s an expertly developed song despite running nearly four minutes in length. There’s a hint of the ethereal in the arrangement, an airiness that allows listeners to get comfortable with the heart ache and uncertainty at the center of the song, The smoky allure of her voice summons up just the right amount of urgency but concentrates much more on emotiveness to memorable effect. There can be little question that she is personally invested in this performance and her attentiveness to striking the right emotional note marks this song as being cut from a different cloth than your typical pop song. The song is carefully orchestrated in some ways, but it never sounds anything less than organic and has a warm sound that should be inviting to any stripe of fan.
The instrumentation on “What You’re Looking For” is obviously arranged in such a way that it supports Taylor’s vocal rather than competing with it for attention. There’s a fair sampling of keyboards running through the song, but no extended instrumental breaks. The same lean economy defining her lyric extends, as well, to the musical content of the piece – there isn’t a single wasted note throughout the duration of the song. The light percussion driving the song forward crescendos at the right time with a chorus that drives to the heart of Taylor’s emotional slow burn. The ghostly movement of her arrangement juxtaposes nicely against her vocal assertiveness and the specificity of her lyrical imagery makes them an even more intimate listening experience than it might have otherwise been. Bree Taylor’s climb from her Canadian roots towards widespread recognition and sales continues with this new single and marks a giant leap forward for her career. “What You’re Looking For” is one of 2017’s best singles.
Jason Hillenburg
