Arts and Entertainment

Nate Taylor ’11 captivates Chapel

By Alex Witonsky ’17

Last Sunday, Nate Taylor ’11 performed a set of folk music in the Chapel. Sitting at the front of the altar, Taylor smiled as the last chords of the title cut rung out.

Expressing joy and nerves, he thanked the friends and family that turned out for the show. Among them was a contingency of the a capellaDuelly Noted, gathered in the pews closest to the front. They applauded Taylor warmly after each song. Before the show began, Taylor’s brother Jacob ’14 practiced a song with him and helped him tune. He made another appearance halfway through the show, lending vocals to a song called “Father,” which extols and questions the tendency of families to drift apart.  Taylor’s own father was also in attendance, sitting close to the front, and smiling whenever Taylor began to speak.

Taylor recently completed a six-month tour of the U.S. His travels across the country bled through his original songs and covers; the lyrics are characteristic of wanderlust and night-time pondering. The first song, “Promise Me,” rejects love and celebrates heartache and unkept promises. With the third fret capo’d, he softly fingerpicked, briefly crescendoing into a half-chorus. The theme was reversed in his next song, “All Along,” in which Taylor celebrates the potential for joy and the reality of romance. In his song “In Dreams,” Taylor’s hopes for romance fade in and out of focus and possibility.  “The Graveyard” laments temporality, expressing the sadness of men who die with unfinished work.

The lyrics are childlike, but not childish. The musings are simple, but profound, asking questions like: Why isn’t love easy? What will I do before I die? Why do families grow apart? In effect, these questions situated the listener somewhere at the intersection of dreaming and waking, adolescence and adulthood.  The confusion Taylor evoked seemed to be intentional; some of the songs seem to question whether maturation robs us of innocent imaginings.

Whether with friends or alone, a summer evening would be better suited to these songs than a chilly autumn night. These are songs for dark beaches slipping under the sea, for the high, warm winds that seem to weave through a tapestry of stars, for the glow of a face radiantly seen in firelight but perceived in intoxication. These are not songs for the indoor warmth of a November evening. Nor does the setting of the Chapel seem entirely appropriate. The religious conno-tation is a bit off, people sat too straight in the pews and the lighting was unnatural. Taylor neither preached nor condescended in order to change our convictions; instead, he affirmed our flaws and doubts.

That is not to say that these are simple campfire songs. Taylor was able to jump between a number of tunings and picks skillfully. His voice was rounded, loud and confident.

The show was also a celebration. Taylor recently released a five-song album, entitled In Dreams. In between songs, he traded humorous anecdotes with the audience. At one point, his father interjected, prompting Taylor to recall a family vacation gone awry. When the music was over, Taylor invited everyone in the audience to a celebratory pizza dinner.

Nate Taylor has a powerful voice and plays the guitar with a confident ease. You can check out his music at www.ntaylormusic.com

No comments yet.

All Arts and Entertainment