The Torment Suite. Julian Shah - Tayler

Julian Shah-Tayler's name and music popped up a few times over the past year in my inbox. With the release of his EP The Torment Suite, last month, it is time to give the  Leeds born, L.A. resident some attention.

Shah-Tayler has a decades long history in music, including writing music for TV series and movies. Listening to The Torment Suite I'm not surprised to read in his bio that he plays in a David Bowie tribute band (as well as a Depeche Mode and a The Cure one). The Band That Fell To Earth is a clever name for a Bowie band. 'Loving The Alien' gets a Shah-Taylor version on the EP. The song is totally recognisable but listen closely and you'll hear some small changes, making the song a clever cover. It is almost possible thinking it's Bowie with the slightly less nasal singing of the original track.

In singing Julian Shah-Tayler without a doubt has no trouble finding his inner-Bowie. This results in hearing music that sounds faintly familiar, without being so. The 80s are where the music ought to be pinpointed in general. Synths are a favourite instrument for this EP. In music and in musical effects the decade finds its place in the music.

This is only half of the story as where melodies are concerned The Torment Suite is nicely endowed. In 'Eyes Of Orion', a cover of a song by Weird Wolves, Ava Gore sings the lead vocals why co-author Raf Colantonio sings as well.

'Beautiful World', the final track is a mild dance track. It is a remix of the second track. A part of the music comes by in patches of synths. All delicate but also estranging in some parts, before the beats are finally released and dancing is truly allowed. When the release comes it is as surprise, no longer expected.

Promo photo: Brian Ziff

The end invites to listen to the EP again. 'Good Soldiers' is a Bowie track, like he could have written after his electro outings of the late 90s, on an album like 'hours ...'. The song would have fitted very nicely on it. It is a subtle song, with a keen ear for some fine details. As an opening song it is so inviting to continue listening and placed exactly right. This song explodes when a truckload of guitars set in and a totally distorted solo flies overhead. One that will have been earsplitting when recorded, on record nicely mixed away.

The same goes more or less for the original 'Beautiful World', the second track on the EP. It is a guitar driven song, containing a lot of power through the assistance of GMT on guitar and David J on bass. It is hard to say which of the songs is my favourite but it does seem this one has the best chances.

Wo.

You can listen to and order The Torment Suite here:

https://bandcamp.com/thesingularitymusic

or listen to our Spotify Playlist to find out what we are writing about:

https://open.spotify.com/user/glazu53/playlist/6R9FgPd2btrMuMaIrYeCh6?si=KI6LzLaAS5K-wsez5oSO2g