I Just Read About That…

[ATTENDED: January 29, 2024] Jeff Taylor

Jeff Taylor is an old friend of Lucius.  He is from new Jersey but lives in Pittsburgh.

He opened his set by humming a kind of dissonant sound as he strummed his guitar.  It went on for far longer than it should have and became kind of funny, but not actually funny.

Then he finally sang a line “We lost my dad,” and seemed to start the whole song over.   Whether he messed up or just wanted that line to hang there is unclear.

Jeff played an electric guitar and sang and I just couldn’t get into it.

By the end of his set I feel like he warmed me up a bit and I enjoyed the last few songs more.  But most of his songs were about breaking up with someone and they just weren’t that interesting.

I mean “Flashes” goes

Just push me away
Let me be free of you
You weren’t my kinda girl

So, yeah.

And “It Swell” feels lascivious but I couldn’t tell from his delivery if I was the dirty one

I believe I could get you to call me
Just by lettin’ it swell
Yeah I believe I could get you to need me
Just by lettin’ it grow

His delivery wasn’t angry or dramatic for songs like this.  He reminded me in style a little of Kevin Devine, but without the clever wordplay.

I enjoyed his cover of “Summer of Luv” and I really liked his whistling at the end of “Birds Chirping.”

It was weird because he said that these songs are from his debut solo album.  But he clearly has a few albums out and has been making music for a decade.

later, when he played with Lucius, I found his acoustic guitar playing to be very nice and I wondered if he sang these songs with an acoustic if the overall vibe would have been better.  The electric guitar was kind of stark and cold and really made the lyrics stand out more clearly.

I have since listened to the record a little and found that the songs were a whole lot better with full instrumentation.  So I guess hearing him in that spare way just wasn’t that good.