By Keith Walsh
I’ve encountered photos of Julian Shah-Tayler as a child, and in these the spark of imagination is visible.  It turns out that a classical British education provides a solid foundation for work as  a rock and roll singer/songwriter. In JST’s electronic rock tunes of the last couple years, one discovers an artist wrestling with grand romantic, elemental themes, his persona alternately enraptured and overwhelmed by the forces of love and passion. 

The newly released “Melt (Elysium)” finds him falling hard in love with the  subject of his desire. “It’s all about transformation, it’s all about change,” he told me.  “Specifically, it’s about projection. I mean the projection of the idea that at one point this person would notice me, it’s like a paean…It’s almost like a plea for the universe to provide this melding. I guess ‘meld’ is a more appropriate word, but ‘melt’ scans better.”

‘Large Theological Themes’
Shah-Tayler explained the phenomenon of his creative inspiration to me in a phone call this week. “I’ve always been fascinated by larger picture stuff,” he said. “I feel philosophy was an inevitable degree for me to do, because I’m concerned with – I guess in some people’s context – religious themes. I went to a choir school, so we had religious education. My math teacher at the time was a theologian, so he would introduce us to quite large theological themes.” Born in Britain,  Shah-Tayler received his degree in philosophy from York University, while his childhood years were spent at Durham Cathedral School.

Shah-Tayler continues: “To a degree it may it may be a little bit against what the cathedral would have preferred, because obviously, it’s a cathedral dedicated to the worship of a Christian God. But he was teaching us all the different mythologies as they relate to religion, and all the different questions. I mean, all the fundamental questions of human existence, which would entail life, death, the understanding that we are very small in the universe, and then the centralism of being huge in important to ourselves. All those things concern me continuously.”

Themes of recent tunes by JST include vivid descriptions of the passionate aftershocks of desire, exaltation, and altered states of consciousness brought on my romantic intoxication.

From “Melt:”
“It’s dark, and I can’t feel the floor/We’re floating in some kind of fog/You’re all dressed in black, making shapes like an angel/ I have to make you love me tonight/You melt into my arms as the night grows colder/ We’re melting under stars tonight/You melt into my arms as I hold you closer/We melt into the stars tonight.”

The track features JST’s studio wizardry, including brilliant guitar work on his ’80s era Eric Clapton Stratocaster, lots of cool synth ornamentation from an Access Virus TI and a Roland Juno 106, programmed Linn Drums, and a killer bassline on a Yamaha bass. I asked Shah-Tayler about that  guitar work, which falls between jazz and progressive rock. “I listen to a lot of Robert Fripp,” he said. “The way that Robert Fripp plays really inspires me, and the way that Jonny Greenwood (Radiohead) plays, so those guys,  I would love to feel that their influence (is heard).”

Julian’s Favorite Stratocaster
Of his favorite Fender Strat, Shah-Tayler told me: “Most of my songs I use my Strat, because it’s a really lovely Strat. It’s a Clapton Strat from the ‘80s, and it’s creamy, and the neck is right for me. It’s covered in welts and dings and all that stuff, and I love it. I’m very familiar with it, it’s on everything. I bought a Gretsch, which I find difficult to play, but Alain Whyte who’s my friend and comes and plays on some of my stuff, he loves the Gretsch, so we get the Gretsch on some of the songs.”

One such song is the upcoming release by JST, “Electricity,” which features an all-star ensemble of Alain Whyte, Carmine Rojas, Chris Olivas (of Berlin), and production by Robert Margouleff. Shah-Tayler tells me this will a special 3D mix –which sounds very exciting.

Other recent tunes by JST include “Earthquakes,” “Secret,”  “The Devil Knows,” and “Living In A Dream.”

Julian Shah-Tayler on Spotify
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