The Devil and the Deep Blue Sea, the debut single from Hertfordshire singer songwriter Taylor Nathan, channels a ’50s/’60s classic folk vibe conjuring dreamy days drifting off under an old oak tree, far away from the invasive distractions and demands of today’s modern world.
We’re told that by day, a car windscreen repairman in his early twenties, Taylor loves to wander Heartwood Forest, immersing himself in nature and forging connections to the past.
“I live right in the countryside,” he says, “and spend my time around there, cycling around, going for long walks with a friend in the forest. It refines what I feel about the world and blends in with what I want to do with the music. To portray that organic vibe, but quite naturally, not in any corny way.”
Taylor’s first single, The Devil And The Deep Sea is one of three original songs recorded with Syd Arthur member Joel Magill at Kate Bush’s studio in Bexleyheath.
His love for English and Irish folk, and for the classic American folk and blues of the 1950s and 1960s such as the extraordinary John Jacob Niles, is a core inspiration. “It’s a sound world, a sound from a different time,” he says. “I channel that past into my music, it’s at the core of my thoughts, and it’s something I try to portray because it’s how I feel, it’s my emotional centre. I like to hear and feel a person’s spirit when they’re singing and playing; that’s what I want to feel like when I’m writing a song. I want people to feel that spirit in my songs. For them to feel that he’s singing because he’s living it. You can always tell when someone really feels it.”
The Devil and the Deep Blue Sea is out today and available on streaming services – https://ffm.to/devilandthedeepbluesea
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Photo Credit: Phoebe Christoforou