You may remember Simon Taylor’s name from the five-star review we awarded him for the beautifully evocative ‘Bolero Loco’ back in September – but the Newcastle singer-songwriter truly is the gift that keeps on giving.
On Friday 5th February, Simon will unleash his new EP, ‘Under the Volcano’, a collection of songs which will showcase his expertise in Latin, jazz and funk styles.
Promotional material for the EP invites us to ‘take a trip back to reality’ with this new music, which tells us of foreign shores and making happiness out of the shell of miserable times.
Three of the tracks have already been released online, including the aforementioned ‘Bolero Loco’, a bittersweet melody of a failed relationship in the style of a Cuban ballad.
In ‘Formentera Dream’, Taylor sings of the island near Ibiza with a “nothing to worry about here” feeling, wishing he could stay there and hide from the rest of the world. The lyrics show the depth of his feeling for the island, telling us that this was where he finally managed to find ‘a grain of peace,’ a welcome escape from his derealisation disorder which he has spoken about previously. The track has already been aired on Spice FM, Radio Tyneside, Nova Radio, and even on BBC Radio Newcastle’s Introducing in The North East.
The next track, ‘Ibiza Nights,’ explores how Taylor felt once he had come back home to Newcastle and away from all the excitement and overstimulation of the party life, experiencing something of an emotion-hangover. He’d been in Ibiza all alone for the week, and this song provided a much-needed outlet for the thoughts he had upon his return to ‘the grey of home’ full of ‘images of fading hope’. Writing music is crucial catharsis, he says, to work through and recover from his psychotic depressive disorder.
The title track for the EP, as yet unheard by the public, is, of course, ‘Under the Volcano.’ Just like the previous tracks, this song explores mental health through the lens of travel, as he finds himself in a beautiful place ‘all alone’ and miserable despite the beauty around him. The music itself makes the listener feel as though they’re on a beach under the sun, but the lyrics betray a deeper sadness than many of us will have ever faced.
The EP will be released on Friday 5th February and can be streamed at simontaylor1.bandcamp.com.
