Maria Taylor

Los Angeles-based Maria Taylor is a singer-songwriter whose compositions boast more complexity and dreaminess than the term singer-songwriter usually implies. Her old band, Azure Ray, specialized in whispery, electronic-inflected pop, but Taylor’s solo work is far more assertive, with the country-meets-beats ornamentation one would expect from someone who came up on the folk-specked sound of the indie label Saddle Creek. Recorded live with a rotating cast of musicians, Taylor’s new solo record, Overlook, features craftily constructed songs and sonic accents that bolster her sometimes-fragile melodies.

Updated 10/05/2011