Dancing Between The Lines With Brooklyn Singer Lorelei Rose Taylor

by | May 28, 2020 | Culture, Featured, Music, NYC


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Between my costumes and your heirlooms
All I’ve exhumed and your short fuse
It takes two to
Dance between the lines

“Venus with a vengeance” Lorelei Rose Taylor releases a magnificent EP, Versailles. The gorgeous, lush vocals of the Brooklyn songstress effervescently float between baroque rock, 90s alternative, and ethereal dream pop. Drawing inspiration from fellow chanteuses Jewel, Sinéad O’ Connor, and Florence and the Machine, Versailles is raw emotion buttered up with pure storytelling and rich vox.
The title track, Versailles, unfurls dark drama in a familiar landmark. ‘Versailles’ embodies a sort of cosmic dance between two people very much in love, but very toxic for each other – and everyone around them. The Palace of Versailles was a landmark in a near decade-long relationship for me, one which became a symbolic memory – a beautiful place to visit, but we couldn’t live there,” shares Taylor.
Versailles became the third demo Lorelei Rose Taylor ever recorded. After an initial spark of inspiration in the NYC subway, the single came together when Taylor joined forces with punk musician Robbie Grabowski (I Can See Mountains, Super American) on piano. The two took their time sculpting the song before presenting it to producer Stephen Kellner.

“I think it’s my favorite song,” says Taylor. “And I always stop myself before I say that, feeling guilty for loving one child more than the others. I guess I felt especially vulnerable when I wrote this; I let myself run back and forth through my emotions unhinged. I was livid and sad and proud and helpless all at the same time – but somehow, my tone is indifferent. There was a moment where I turned to the guys like, “Do I sound bored?” But I realized I was just exhausted. Exhausted and defeated – and I didn’t want to pretend I felt any other way.”

Photo: Bonnie Nichoalds

Another standout track on the album is When You’re Gone, an atmospheric, melancholy number that feels right at home in a David Lynch production. It is a highly emotional piece with gentle nods to doo-wop and uncannily evoking the mournful cries of the Cranberries’ Dolores O’Riordan.

The Texas-born songwriter grew up in upstate New York and penned her first song at just 11 years old. The precocious youngster took it upon herself to label her keyboard keys with marker and to emulate Jewel on acoustic guitar, sparking a lifelong passion for songwriting. In 2012 Taylor moved to NYC to attend college at FIT. From there, she pursued an Art History degree in Florence. By 2017 Taylor was back in Gotham, ready to write more music.

Reflecting back on the creation of the album, Taylor says: “Château de Versailles is home to one of the most electric eras of my life. For so long, everything was decadent – full of love and lust and excess. And then it wasn’t. The EP is about the party being over and the gardens being overgrown. It’s about returning to Versailles with the only set of keys and realizing the locks were changed – sure, I could break in, but would it still feel like home?”

Stream the gorgeous EP here:

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Downtown Magazine