Holly Taymar is a sweet-voiced acoustic singer-songwriter based in York who plays gentle folk songs influenced by "anyone whose music is honest and pure", a category which, for her, includes Carole King, Nora Jones and Kate Rusby.
For the five songs on this EP she is accompanied by Christopher Bilton on mandolin, banjo and percussion, violinist Anne-Marie and producer Carl Hetherington on piano.
On the opening track - For The Sake Of It - she sings "I should go out but I like it at home" signalling the fact that her songs have an introspective quality of someone wanting to be true to herself while wistfully reflecting on a life elsewhere; "I'm not someone who pretends to be up when I'm down" she sings on Too Far Along.
It is significant, therefore, that she should choose to cover of The Beatles' 'She's Leaving Home' Lennon-McCartney's poignant song of escape from the stifling security of suburbia. This is a nice version although it suffers from the absence of the backing vocals of the original. You can't help but miss crucial lines like "Fun is the one thing that money can't buy". that help explain why the lonely daughter should seek out a new life with "a man from the motor trade".
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Though the general mood is one of quiet reflection, love offers the promise of change and happiness in the other two songs - Beautiful Days and Four.
Holly is rightly gaining a degree of attention on the folk-indie circuit, for example she is a contender for Glastonbury's Emerging Talent competition.
Certainly this EP does enough suggest that being unsigned should be a temporary state.
Hopefully she will find a deal before - Never Winter Mind - Part Two comes out towards the end of 2011.
Holly Tamar's website
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