Songs about moving on
Taylor’s work becomes more compelling as she continues to harness this formula of contrast. Delicious as a pop diva, she infuses substantive poetry into every line, creating a brand of breakup ballad you can really sink into, not just belt out to another annoyed driver sitting in a traffic jam.
On “Time Lapse Lifeline” Taylor croons “Oh we dreamed a life…and just like that it’s done” to an upbeat chord progression interrupted by an orchestral melee of violins. On “It’s Time,” she sings “Hold myself up for each let down, it breaks, but it feels good…” to heavy drums and light mellotron echoes. Tracks later in the album recall Taylor’s older work, simply spun tunes overlaid with delightful images.
Lady Luck‘s lyrics suggest a breakup has just occurred, though the songstress doesn’t linger on the past. Taylor notes that “all things go,” and over the course of 10 songs she sums up that concept, using hummingbirds, butterflies and poppy guitar hooks. It’s an odd contrast—her shiny, childish imagery and upbeat melodies expressing a relationship gone bad. But the contrast isn’t jarring, and certainly isn’t tired like the insipid, albeit catchy, breakup tunes of a newly freed Britney.
Empowered post-breakup ballads are the bread and butter of girl pop, and they’re usually delicious. There’s nothing like rolling the car windows down and blasting “Since you been gooooooone, I can buh-reath for the first time…” But what happens when a post-Saddle Creek chanteuse with solid indie cred like Maria Taylor models an entire album on the formula? Surprisingly, it works out pretty well.
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