Taylor Ashton has released four albums of heady progressive folk with the Vancouver-based Fish & Bird before moving to New York City in 2015. His solo debut, The Romantic received raves from NPR, Folk Alley, The Bluegrass Situation and more. Wonderfully collaborative, the album finds Ashton working with different players from song to song.
Ashton writes, “The album is like a supernaturally good party – the musical conversation flows naturally, different people come and go who bring different energies but it keeps a consistent tone. Thematically, The Romantic is a document of Ashton’s identity as an expatriate Canadian living in the U.S., “processing change and loss and seeing the beautiful painful passage of time, from twelve different angles.”
On the heels of Ashton’s solo album, Glide is thrilled to premiere the silvery sublime duet between Ashton and Rachael Price of Lake Street Dive (below). This song is from Ashton’s forthcoming EP Romanticize out February 5th on Signature Records. This delicate song provides a calming grace for these uncertain times, reminiscent of the offbeat folk of The Swell Season and The Bird & The Bee. Let’s hope this is the first of many collaborations from this talented duo..
“Alex” is about two characters who came to me in a vivid dream, soon after all my 2020 tour dates got cancelled. They’re both named Alex, and they live in the same house, with many housemates. It’s the type of place with a thriving garden and all the dry goods stored handsomely in mason jars on the communal kitchen shelves. These characters have feelings for each other, but they’re either too shy to admit it to each other, or they’re just prioritizing the platonic equilibrium of their house.
This year has had the cool side effect of Rachael and I singing together a lot more than we have before, and she sings the part of the second Alex beautifully.
The song was written around a loop I made by tapping on the plastic head of my banjo with my fingers, and that loop is still in the final version. From that core, Alec Spiegelman (bass clarinet), Steve Foster (drums), Sam Gleason (guitar and mellotron), and Thom Gill (pianos) all worked their magic on this song remotely and lifted my little story idea way up. Each part that they emailed to me was like a little birthday present.”
Top photo by Shervin Lainez
