Take Me Anywhere, Chris Taylor

Take Me Anywhere, Chris Taylor

Singer/songwriter Chris Taylor makes his Beck Recordings debut with a collection of modern worship on Take Me Anywhere. Take Me Anywhere starts out with “Turn Me Around.” “Turn Me Around” has a ton of pop rock melodies backed by swirling synths, intricate guitars and a sharp tenor vocal pushing out the faithfulness of Taylor’s devotion to God.

Unlike the first track, “Made For You” is completely stripped down to just a simple guitar hook and a light piano notation with tons of acoustics creating this gorgeous exuberance. Next was the title track of this disc and at first it sounded more like a ballad, but turned right around into a solid pop song with up tempo keyboards, frenetic guitar patterns, high hatsand Chris’ soft vocal skills telling us a lovely story. “You See Through Me” is similar, but has a lighter tone structure and almost sound like a combination of a worship song and a pure terrestrial radio bubblegum pop track.

Taylor gets slightly rockin’ with “I Don’t Need TO Know” as he cranks it up a smidge, revs up the amplifiers and accents it with turn tables a’la Incubus. It’s edgy and different than what a devotional should be and he pours out his love for Jesus here. He offers up a tender ballad with “Speak To Me In Mysteries” as it’s a beautiful love song with whimpering vocals laced with piano and drums. He gets back to a higher form of energy on “Found” as it has nice mainstream pop styles with traces of guitars making it seem not too frilly; yet had full effects of flavorful refrains and harmony.

Taylor gets melancholic and moody with “Safe” as it has a haunting echoed lyric filled with tons of feedback, harsh guitar licks and a sonic presence amongst it. It’s a tight cut speaking volumes of how someone could be so protective to you when in need. “Lift Me Up” may be the safest single on the track listing as it had a plethora of mainstream sound normitives. It’s extremely bland and is the worst of the songs on the entire album. He does finish this release up nicely on “Come Around” as it’s just a uniquely crafted acoustic number filled with a tremendous amount of guitar and a great atmosphere surrounding his musical gifts. Chris Taylor has graced us with a solid debut effort with Take Me Anywhere and could compete with many of his fellow contemporaries in the near future.