Julian Taylor’s roving, breezy songs hustle you along a parallel timeline created by a gripping sense of musical déjà vu. Surely you’ve heard these melody-injected songs before, perhaps in a dream, maybe drifting from a radio on a sunset beach with friends, or on a surprise road trip that ended in triumph.

While his Caribbean/Kanien'kéha (Mohawk) heritage at times hounded him ("Never Black enough to be Black, never Red enough to be Red”), he transcended –– by drawing from the well filled by classical piano lessons at 5 and summers spent learning campfire guitar among horses, dogs and chickens at his grandparents’ BC acreage. A life defined by the crossroads allows Taylor to create music with global appeal. His high school band Staggered Crossing signed with Warner Music when he was 21 and his own Bent Penny label released a couple more of their albums in the early 2000s.

He subsequently spent a decade hosting open stages before finding a stunning musical second wind, as evidenced by Polaris and Juno nominations during the past half-decade. His organic soundscapes are woven from stories, insights and indelible riffs. They’re simultaneously fresh and anthemic, the stuff of movie soundtracks sans cheesiness; musical documentaries of the soul.

- Mary-Lynn Wardle