Faith Taylor – formerly of Suffolk, now of Cambridge - is a singer-songwriter in the Joni Mitchell lineage. This might not be an original style, but it can still be a good one. There‘s an inherent freshness in the sparse sound of acoustic guitar and vocals. With powerful guitar style – both sensitive and strident (drawing upon the British folk styles of the 1960s) – and strong voice (sensitive and strident, again), Faith Taylor has an impressive presence. This is enjoyable, thoughtful, emotionally subtle music. It’s a winner.

Such acts often lose much of their impact on recordings, but Reasons To Be Fearful (a nice title, belying Faith’s confident persona) conveys the potency of Taylor’s live show through remaining faithful to the intimate, unadorned, completely solo performance. I know I go on about this, but so many singer-songwriters render themselves tepid on record with lame soft-rock productions. Not so Faith. If you hear the EP you’ll probably be eager to see her perform live. If you see her live and like her then I’d certainly recommend purchasing the EP.

The four tracks - Fire, Hold Open doors, Fail and The Mirror are all equally good. The uncredited bonus track is in a completely different style. Apparently different copies of the EP have different bonus tracks on them. There’s some witty artwork by Faith on the cover, of a more down-to-earth nature. Taylor evidently has a feminist political consciousness which complements to the more usual singer-songwriter introspection smartly.

All in all, very good.

Writer: Rychard Carrington

Faith Taylor on Myspace