SEE Magazine
Copyright © 1998. All Rights Reserved.
MUSIC
BY WARREN FOOTZSt. Albert chanteuse Robyn Taylor is finding that time isn't forever. Busy studying computer science at the University of Alberta and pursuing musical aspirations, she's nervously monitoring every moment.
"I always get aggravated when I think I may have passed up an opportunity, or I've not done something that I should have," she said.
But she also realizes she's got a lifetime ahead so she can take her time and carefully march to the beat of her heart. That realization doesn't make life any less hectic, but Taylor deals with living two separate lives by exhibiting amazing dedication.
"It gets really crazy. I've gone to Chapters (on Whyte to perform) and then have gone back to the lab at school."
With a CD to promote (Amethyst) and the occasional live performance, both aspirations provide a respite for the other, keeping Taylor grounded and focused on the moment and the future.
"I like the combination of both things because I don't like to get too head-in-the-clouds."
But that time thing keeps rearing its head. "Especially now," she explained. "I wish I had more time to just dedicate to this because things are going so well. I'm really getting distracted by school. I guess it should be the other way around but, with school, there isn't as much time to explore things that I would like to."
On Amethyst, Taylor explores a haunting yet strong and controlled voice that's the result of 10 years of voice training at Alberta College and Innovations in St. Albert, and a desire to add something of herself to what she's learned.
"I'm finding the time to experiment on my own. It's a bit more freeing. I got a lot out of my lessons, but it was important to have some time to myself to develop the connection to it."
Taylor has been performing around the greater Edmonchuck area for a few years (at private functions, the local Chapters and a neat gig at the Unitarian Church) and she's spent that time crafting her style. It did take time to unearth the silk road that will take her to where she wants to go.
"I thought, I'm not going to get very far with this," she said of the early part of her search. Working with karaoke tapes or an accompanist wasn't it. "I thought, if I'm going to do anything, I'm going to have to take care of it all myself." So she added piano to her package. "It was scary the first time because I had to contend with not only singing, but the piano too."
Equally frightening was performing her own material. She finds the task of playing new songs to strangers less stressful than playing to those more familiar to her.
"It's just creepy sometimes because the stuff can get a little personal and it feels really like opening up my diary."
That personal exposure is present in Vampire, one of her album's more intriguing originals. "That was a poem that I wrote in high school. I changed things and made it a bit more. I've always been a big vampire freak," she admitted, "but it wasn't really, when I wrote it, about vampires. I'd come across some really grizzly people who I was not impressed with and I thought that their attitude towards others was kind of hard-hearted, a bit vampire-ish, and so I expanded that into the song."
Just don't extrapolate that vampire thing into the realm of all things Gothic. Though not adverse to the genre, with her obvious appeal to fans of people like Kate Bush, Sarah McLachlan or Edmonton's own Soft, it's a corner Taylor wishes not to be relegated to. Personally self-assured and firmly grounded, musically mysterious and ethereal, Robyn Taylor's future looks interesting and, like a fun ride to be on, has possibilities that are wide open. Just as long as she can find the time to explore them all.
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