Q&A: Syd Taylor Finds Herself on Debut Album ‘After the Fact’
INTERVIEW
INTERVIEW
☆ BY KELSEY PECCHIA ☆
Photography Credit: Zhenya Minaeva
A SLICE OF HEAVEN — Syd Taylor seeks to find her identity as a solo musician on her debut album, After the Fact. Being in a band with her twin sister since they were eight years old, Taylor has always gravitated towards the creative, the vulnerable, and the musical. The only difference now, is it is all up to her.
After leaving their band, Stereo Jane, about a year ago, Taylor felt lost. Who was she without her twin sister? What music did she love, just for herself? Who was she as an artist, when it was completely up to her? Taylor spent the past year truly learning about herself, what she liked, and what she wanted without the input of anyone else. The result: a vulnerable, confident, honest, and raw debut that preaches the self assurance Taylor has learned to give herself.
Written, produced, and completely directed by Taylor, she taught herself skills she didn’t have to finish this record almost entirely on her own. What emerges from her time of self-discovery is a story of growth, radiant confidence, and growing self-worth. Taylor embraces all of it - the good, the bad, the angry, the flirty, the devastated, the optimistic. She yearns for something more and loves what she has now, representing the duality of constantly growing and changing, while also finding comfort in where you’ve been. Taylor knows what she wants, is ready to ask for it, and is staying true to herself through it all.
After the Fact exudes feminine power and the strength in protecting your peace, while having a little fun of course! No longer seeking the approval of others, Taylor is able to unapologetically be herself, even if who that is continues to change. Through her songwriting and mix of analog warmth paired with sharp digital production techniques, Taylor is creating a sound that is uniquely hers, while staying true to the indie rock roots she is so deeply inspired by. Read below for Syd Taylor’s thoughts on her debut album.
Photography Credit: Zhenya Minaeva
LUNA: Thank you so much for chatting with The Luna Collective today! For those who are new fans, can you tell us a little bit about yourself and your music?
TAYLOR: My backstory is super important. I was in a band with my twin sister my whole life, basically from the time we were eight years old. I went through so much with her, and I think being a twin, it was really hard being compared to each other and always grouped together as one. It was really hard for us to find our identities. A year ago, pretty much exactly a year ago, I decided that it would be best for me to leave and to discover who I am and even just the things that I like about being an artist and the music that I like, that I resonate with, because I feel I was always trying to please other people and try to figure out what the best thing for the both of us was. So, this album was inspired by me, quite literally finding myself, and I feel that's a very important backstory for the album.
LUNA: You are releasing your debut album, After the Fact. What inspired you when thinking about this project as opposed to things that you've done before, maybe more collaboratively?
TAYLOR: I think, honestly, what really inspired me was rediscovering the things that I had listened to as a kid growing up and really going back to those kinds of rock roots. With my band, I was always trying to please the next manager, A&R, producers, whoever it was that was trying to put us on this specific track. And so this was me just doing whatever I wanted. I would wake up and I would just be like, “This is what I want to do today.” This is what I want to write today, and this is where I feel the sound should go, and I didn't have to ask anybody or approve it with anyone or get anybody's opinion other than my own. I don't think that I would have been able to create something like this if I weren't alone, by myself and relying on myself to create, because I think that pushed me to become a better producer, a better writer. Yeah, I think I inspired myself as I went on with it. It's kind of crazy how it all came together.
LUNA: I love that! You wore many hats during this project. Between writing, producing, creative direction, and art design, which aspect was the most fulfilling to create for you?
TAYLOR: I think learning about what I could create other than the music, because I taught myself pretty much all of it. I took a Photoshop class in high school for two years, and I think that created a really good base for me to learn about graphic design. So I was designing my own merch, I designed the album cover, I designed all of my visuals, I learned Premiere Pro, I was editing my music videos, learning about coloring, all these things that I never knew how to do that were so fun to learn. It was really hard, and stressful, but it was so fun to learn how to do all those things.
I used to sew costumes when I was a kid. I would rip up my mom's old blankets and stuff. She would let me, I asked for permission, but there'd be a sheet, and I'd be like, “Mom, can I cut this and sew this into a dress,” when I was eight years old, and it was the worst thing you've ever seen in your entire life. I got back to that, but in a way where, like could I wear the outfit out? No. But was it good for a photo shoot? Yes. I would sew things that would actually look good. When I would see something and I couldn't afford it, I'd think, “You know what, I'm gonna try to make something similar.”
I just learned so much about my capabilities as a creative. I've always been very artistic. My mom is a very artistic woman. I've learned so much from her and seeing her as I was growing up. She makes everything, she would help us with our Halloween costumes. I think it's definitely in my blood.
LUNA: This project exudes self assurance and confidence while still being deeply vulnerable and honest. Were these themes you knew you wanted to explore, or did they fall into place as you were writing?
TAYLOR: It came to me, for sure. It was almost my way of getting it out, writing it. I had my notebook with me at all times, and I was writing little thoughts that I would have throughout the day into the notebook, and it would a lot of the time turn into a song. I think I kind of discovered myself as I wrote, and I think a lot of these ideas and these thoughts that I had always been thinking in my head just came out, that I didn't even realize I was having. So there was really no intent when it came to writing the album. I was just like, “I need to write an album, and I need to get out all of my thoughts. I need to express myself creatively through the music and through the writing.” It just came to me as I wrote.
LUNA: That's beautiful. Is there a track on After the Fact that you feel best represents your evolution into a solo artist? What about it feels most like you now?
TAYLOR: I would say “After the Fact,” because that one just felt the most me out of all of the songs on the record. But another one that I feel like really wraps up and sums up the closure of Stereo Jane and of my band, was the song “Jane” that I wrote to my sister. It’s basically a goodbye and a hello to the lives that we're going to have moving forward, and just reassuring the two of us that it's going to be okay and that we're going to be okay and we're better apart, and we're going to be stronger because of it, which is true. Since I wrote the album, since I left the band, we have become so much closer in a sisterly way, and less of a work way, which is so so important as sisters to have that, and we didn't really have that. So, yeah, I would say probably “Jane” is the answer to that.
LUNA: What did you learn about yourself—musically or personally—while creating this project?
TAYLOR: I learned that when I set my mind to something, I can actually do it. I think I used to live in fear of not being good enough, especially surrounded by all these amazing people in this industry, all these amazing songwriters and producers, and we would always get put into sessions with other people who were, in my mind, way better. I was like, “Oh, I could never do that. They're doing this so fast. How are they producing this so fast?” They have this whole bank of what they know and what they like, and they just go for it, and they're just so easily able to express it. While it takes me longer to be able to do that and to sift through sounds and pick things and really, fully produce something, that doesn't mean that I am not as good. It doesn't mean that I'm not as capable.
LUNA: Absolutely. I feel that’s such a common experience with young artists today, feeling like you will never be at that “higher” level. Is there any advice you would give to these artists or even your younger self experiencing this feeling?
TAYLOR: I would say even if it's something that you don't think you're capable of, try it, go for it, set your mind to it, and finish it. Even if you don't love the finished product, you still did it, and you know that you can do something, you know that you can go for it. I also think the more that you practice and the more that you continue to express yourself creatively, the better you're going to get, because I was not as good as I am today, four years ago, five years ago, even one year ago. I worked really, really hard, and I set my mind to it, and I went for it. I think that having confidence in yourself is so important, but you can only build that confidence if you keep trying and keep going for it.
LUNA: What do you hope people take away from this project?
TAYLOR: I think having the confidence to speak up when you want something and when you need something and when you deserve something, to put it simply.
LUNA: Is there anything, either musically or otherwise, that is inspiring you at the beginning of this new chapter?
TAYLOR: Honestly I'm kind of all over the place right now, because I have never released an album in my life, and it's been a dream of mine, and I don't know what's going to come next. I'm very excited to have a full bank of songs that I can support and promote. Every day I can post a different song, and I don't have to keep posting the same song over and over again. I think I'm excited to be inspired when I continue to post the new music and see what people are responding to and find new ways to promote it and support it, and make new visuals and new videos and have 12 full songs that I can go and promote. I'm so excited.
LUNA: How are you feeling that After the Fact is now available to the world, and what’s coming up for you this year that you would like to share with Luna?
TAYLOR: I am nervous and excited and terrified and proud right now. For the last couple days, it’s been really hard for me to not keep crying. I've been crying a lot, and I think it's just because of the amount of work that has gone into this project over the last year. It's been so much, and I've worked so hard, and I'm just so proud of myself. It’s a happy cry. I could not be more proud of myself, and I think that's the takeaway from this. I set my mind to something, and I did it, which is something that I, a year ago, did not think that I could do. I genuinely didn't think that I could do it, because I was in this mindset of, “Oh, everyone else is better than me, and I need somebody to help me with this.” I'm so proud of myself for doing what I set out to do in the time that I had set out to do it. I'm just honored that I get to release my work. In terms of this year, there is not a tour yet, but that is something that's also on my bucket list. I want to go on tour. I belong on a bus. I belong on the road. I belong on the stage every single night, and it's not set up yet, but that is the goal for the fall.
