Paris In The Spring [LP], Alexis Taylor, Vinyl

Alexis Taylor is one of the UK's most distinctive singer-songwriters. A singular voice, he's built a substantial body of solo work over the years. Paris In The Spring is his most revealing album yet, baring sentiments both specific and universal. The subject matter doesn't shy away from hard-hitting themes, but musically, it's carefree, brightly-lit and contemporary, drawing on elegant disco-house, voluptuous basslines and Vangelis-inspired soundscapes. Testament to his skill as a curator, he's called on some impressive personnel to help create it's effervescent sound world: Air's Nicolas Godin, The Avalanches, Lola Kirke, Oli Bayston, Étienne de Crécy, Elizabeth White of Pale Blue and Scritti Politti's Green Gartside, to name but a few. In this world, the confessional style of country is charged by the pop melodicism of Paul McCartney, the futuristic funk of Sly and the Family Stone and, as Taylor puts it, "synthesisers left out in the rain". It's where British Americana meets Gallic flair, somewhere on Mars. Thankfully, no synths were harmed in the making of the album. The title references a psychological test where things are not as they seem. "You have to look for those double meanings, or what's hiding under the surface." Ultimately, this is an album about freedom from constraints, from preconceptions, from genre. Taylor experiments with all different musical styles - country, folk, disco - and has weaved it together here into something unique.