Celebrated Canadian musician Julian Taylor is releasing “S.E.E.D.S,” a new single from his extraordinary sophomore solo album coming in October 2022. The single comes out today on Howling Turtle/Warner Music Canada, and is available on all major platforms. For more information please visit any of the links below or Taylor’s website.
“S.E.E.D.S,” which stands for “Somehow Everyone Eventually Dreams Someday,” was inspired by Taylor waking up to a text that his cousin sent him the morning after the announcement in Kamloops, where 215 uncovered remains of buried Indigenous children were discovered at a former Residential school. Says Taylor, “Her text simply read, George Floyd and Kamloops, with a tear emoji, and following that, ‘They tried to bury us, but they didn’t know we were seeds’.” These very words became the chorus of the song.
Gentle but insistent, “SEEDS” slowly builds, buoyed by flourishes of piano, violin, and pedal steel guitar, and riding the unwavering beat of a traditional hand drum that Taylor inherited from his Mohawk grandfather. Just as the lyrics honour the strength and resilience of Indigenous and Black people in the face of overwhelming brutality, the chorus is among the most catchy and engaging that Taylor has penned to date – in this case, alongside one of his frequent co-writers, renowned Canadian poet Robert Priest.
Taylor summarizes “SEEDS” as “a quiet protest song about hope, strength and resilience.”
Stay tuned for more new music from Taylor and check out this official video for the song “Murder 13,” shot at El Mocambo in Toronto. Early previews of the full album have garnered praise already, with folks saying “I can’t stop listening to it. It’s very compelling. It’s like a book you can’t put down.”
Taylor is conscious and proud of his mixed Black and Mohawk heritage. “I come from two strong oral traditions and cultures,” he says. “One was stolen from their land and brought here and the other had their land stolen. It’s been an uphill battle ever since and the fight is far from over… I did not grow up on a reservation. I have strong roots in Kahnawake, which is a reservation in Quebec, Canada. I have family there and I’ve been visiting since I could crawl.“
CREDITS:
Julian Taylor – Vocals & Acoustic Guitar, Piano, Hand Drum
Derek Downham – Mandolin, Ukulele, Banjo, Acoustic Guitar, Fender Rhodes, Piano
Burke Carroll – Pedal Steel
Miranda Mulholland – Fiddle
Sheila Carabine – Backing Vocals
Amanda Walther – Backing Vocals
Gene Diabo – Drums, Congas, Percussion
Barry Diabo – Electric Bass
Saam Hashemi – Piano
Aya Miyagawa, Sarah Valasco, Eslin Mckay – Violins
Maxime Despax – Viola
Erika Nielsen – Cello
Michael Peter Olsen – String Arrangements
Composer (Songwriter) Names – Julian Taylor & Robert Priest
Produced by Saam Hashemi & Julian Taylor
Mixed and Engineered by Saam Hashemi
Recorded at The Woodshed
RECENT CAREER HIGHLIGHTS:
• Nominated for the 2021 JUNO Awards – ‘Contemporary Roots
Album of the Year’ & ‘Indigenous Artist or Group of the Year’
• Winner of the 2021 Canadian Folk Music Awards for ‘Solo Artist of the Year’
• Title track ‘The Ridge’ went #1 on the Indigenous Music
Countdown in August 2020 and received plays in the US and UK.
• ‘Human Race’ is the 2nd track from “The Ridge” album to go #1
on the Indigenous Music Countdown (Apr. 2021)
• ‘Ballad of a Young Troubadour’ was featured on Spotify’s Best
Folk, Your Favorite Coffeehouse, Roots Rising, American Songs
of 2020 and many other editorial playlists, and charted in multiple
countries (Germany, Australia, Taiwan & Romania)
• Songs from ‘The Ridge have been Shazam’d more than 5,000 times
• Featured in/on American Songwriter, Toronto Star, Canadian Musician
Magazine, Exclaim! and more
• More than five million streams for “Ballad of a Young Troubadour”