Reviews Continued:
Brilliant Blue

Americana UK
8 out of 10

Thea Gilmore has, for quite sometime now, been Britain’s female solo artist you’re allowed to like. Well, there’s a new kid on the block – enter Rachel Taylor-Beales. ‘Brilliant Blue’ is her debut solo album and , for want of a better description, it’s brilliantly blue. Easily as blue as Joni Mitchell’s Blue, if not more so. Here are ten torch songs put together with a whole bunch of of heart, everyone an understated epic of economy and emotion. Flitting between piano and acoustic guitar, each song is tear-drenched odyssey with Beales’ battered vocals surely a lesson in soulfullness that Norah Jones might want to attend.

Taplas Magazine.

I first came across Rachel Taylor-Beales when she supported Martyn Joseph and Stewart Henderson on their “Because We Can” tour. I was completely captivated by Cardiff-based singer songwriter and her distinctive voice and unique songs. “Brilliant Blue” is her first release and it’s a strong album, a million miles from the vacuous acoustic-pop that so often characterises modern singer-songwriters. Rachel’s singing is supported by subtle textures of a spectrum of instruments including acoustic guitar and jazzy bass, cello, flute and percussion. I found it difficult to pick out any one track as a particular favourite, I found myself listening to the album in its entirety each time I put it into the CD player. At a push, I’d pick out “Prayer for a Friend” and the title track, perhaps, but it’s one of the most coherent albums I’ve listened to in a long time. There are overtones of Beth Orton, Joni Mitchell and, to my ears, even Nick Cave and Tom Waits. These are songs that demand to be listened to and, indeed, deserve to reach a wide audience. A new talent, then, and one I look forward to hearing a lot more from.

Cross Rhythms Magazine
9 out of 10
Recording at the intersection of folk, jazz and rock, this is a superb, gentle recording that highlights Rachel's gifts as a songwriter and performer. This is an excellent intro to her music where Rachel's quirky songs and performances are dressed in delicate acoustic arrangements. I guess the closest comparisons would be Tori Amos (except Rachel isn't quite so weird!) with a little of a 'Tapestry' era Carole King vibe thrown in. Difficult to pick favourites but "Super Glue" written for husband Bill is lovely and "Prayer For My Friend The Romantic Insomniac" has to be one of the coolest song titles you've heard in a while. Oh yeah, and it's a cool song too! Like Martyn Joseph, Rachel deserves to find a broad audience.
Mike Rimmer

Buzz Magazine.
Tasteful semi-Jazz arrangements…all delivered with a certain beauty.

The Big Issue.
There's no denying that Rachel Taylor-Beales is a very talented woman –…a little like Jewel in that there is something personal and poetic in both her lyrics and her pure, high voice.

Cambridge and Beyond.
****
...great singing, excellent musicianship, fine production...very stylish...leaves you wanting more.


BBC Radio Wales, Jamie Dunbar.
‘What a sexy voice, she knows how to work the mic.’

'Acoustic Magazine
Hauntingly beautiful!'

Cardiff-based, Rachel’s a young singer-songwriter who self-released this album, her debut, a short time ago; it so impressed Martyn Joseph that he signed her to his Pipe label, and he’s now reissued the disc under that imprint. In some ways you’ll see straightaway why Martyn was so taken with Rachel – not least in that she has an individual voice (a gently soulful, breathy singing voice as well as a strong songwriting identity), and a doggedly independent spirit with which she expresses her emotions in song, with no concessions or compromises. Her songs tend very much to be emotional journeys, but at the same time they don’t feel exclusive or unduly private; their expressiveness, which is often quite elliptical, allows for the dominance of hope as a given in the spiritual or physical quest being portrayed. The album’s introductory soundscape – a storm – sets the scene for a series of recounted experiences and stories surrounding what Rachel considers inhabits the storm’s eye; for this central image of calm and reflection belies the sometimes traumatic journey to and from that place. For instance, Attic Girl portrays the protagonist’s confusion and angst where she’s “invoking help from the sky” amidst an outwardly “together” (at least at first) musical environment; this juxtaposition is typical of Rachel’s quiet inventiveness, where there’s often a lot more going on within her songs than at first meets your ears. An enervating torpor, an eerie stillness, a cool resignation almost, is at the album‘s epicentre with the title track and then Cut; the latter and the track that follows, The Altar, are certainly outstanding creations. The closer Ten Thousand Miles is (musically at any rate) reminiscent of one of those meandering electric-folk workouts from the early 70s. The bonus, hidden track is a reworking of the penultimate song Shuttle Bus 38, this time with rippling guitars, flute and soft electric fuzztones taking the place of the desperate solo piano of the original rendition, where Rachel’s subtly different vocal treatment transposes the song out of its original quasi-Joni Mitchell territory right into modern folk-jazz, floating up and out into the ether and on to an uplifting acapella version of the “we’re gonna learn how to fly, cross these waters…” refrain from Oh Sister to fade out on. Throughout the album, Rachel reaps the benefit of a loyal backing crew for her own acoustic guitar and piano, alternating stark and laid-bare textures with some interesting and ambitious combinations of sounds involving cello, marimba, 12-string or electric guitar, bass, trumpet and percussion – though all are used sparingly. Finally, what of any stylistic reference points? – well, possibly Waking The Witch, and even Beth Orton… and like those mentioned, it’s often not an easy ride. I found that Brilliant Blue isn’t an album that you can get immediate measure of; it doesn’t ingratiate itself immediately in your consciousness but needs quite a bit of work. It’s worth it in the end though.
David Kidman, (reviewer for Net Rhythms and various British acoustic/ folk magazines)

Irish Evening Herald
'Brilliant Blue' is the striking debut album from Cardiff-based singer/songwriter/........ Rachel Taylor-Beales, the first signing to Welsh troubador Martyn Joseph's Pipe label. Warm vocals and dreamy piano improvisations bring Joni Mitchell's 'Blue' to mind (and set one to wondering whether the title is an intentional nod), with Taylor-Beales' excellent soprano sax playing adding a jazz element to the mix. Penultimate track 'Shuttle Bus 38' is a lovely, lyrically evocative ode to life on the road that gets two reworkings here: 'Oh Sister' takes the final two lines and resets them as a gospel chorus over a stark Nick Drake-ish guitar backing, while a hidden track at the end gives the full song a more complex, upbeat treatment that builds over five-plus minutes to an a cappella choral finale.
Sarah McQuaid