Release Date: August 10, 2018
Genre: Folk
Label: Independent Interpersonal, Taylor Janzen's brand spanking new four-track effort touches on subjects close to herself, such as mental illness, emotional abuse, and religion, in her immensely open, signature form of confessional songwriting. Her music is most notably reminiscent of the likes of Phoebe Bridgers and Julien Baker, but I can think of a few more artists that can be added to the list. Taylor also has a singing voice described by many to be similar to Paramore vocalist Hayley Williams. Interpersonal opens with the first of four massive emotionally driven songs, "Stations" The song, which also happens to be the efforts lead single, is about emotional abuse. The tune features a very soft, simple, but melodic electric guitar, topped off with her distressing and defenseless tone of singing.
On one of two of the efforts only acoustic tracks, "The Waiting Room," Taylor bears out her frustration of always sitting in waiting rooms and doctor's offices. She's pleading that she no longer wants to be within these enclosed spaces for various reasons while she's seeking treatment for her mental health. "The Waiting Room" features a beautiful demonstration of melodies upon her staple soft, simple, melodic solo guitar stylings.
The penultimate track, "Colourblind," is yet another powerfully written tune by Taylor Janzen. In this song, Taylor is heard singing about the struggles of growing up and the relationship and stigma from the church regarding mental health. On stage, at her album release, she said briefly that "Colourblind" was the song she was most scared of putting out into the world for people to hear.
The last track on Interpersonal is the second acoustic tune, "Better Now." Taylor on this particular song is heard urging her friends, family, and whomever else, that she is now better, but in denial that she isn't. Yet another painstaking look into Taylor’s mental illness, Taylor bears it all out for the listeners again, as she has on all of, Interpersonal. Additionally, at the album release show, Taylor jokingly stated that "Better Now" was written while cleaning urinals at her place of work and wanted to initially title the track something to do with such, but ultimately chose not to do so. I unquestionably have no qualms that Taylor Janzen will shortly be riding a wave of success from the release of Interpersonal. Rather it is recording even more music, performing in front of larger local or non-local crowds, or even full-on touring. She just recently performed her first gig out of her hometown in Los Angeles, California, late last month, so I can only imagine she wants to get out there and perform around the globe. Please make sure to stream Interpersonal now on your preferred streaming service or by purchasing Interpersonal on iTunes.
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