Phrases like “renaissance man” and “quadruple threat” might seem a tad hyperbolic in reference to a largely unknown pop artist, but when a songwriter, record producer, filmmaker and showman like Steve Taylor emerges from two decades of relative musical silence with one of the most interesting rock records of the year, normal words fail.

After a decade pushing limits and bothering gatekeepers as an alternative Christian artist in the ’80s, Taylor decided to let the “real” music industry beat up on him for a change. He formed Chagall Guevara with some of the best musicians in Nashville and signed with MCA. While that band earned excellent reviews and thrilled fans, the required commercial success never materialized. After releasing the solo project Squint in 1993, Taylor mostly retired as a musical artist and re-invented himself as a record executive by launching Squint Records. Sixpence None The Richer broke through with the Taylor-produced global hit “Kiss Me,” but he later received a pink slip from his own label. He went back to his creative first love: making music videos and movies. In 2012 he wrote, produced and directed the film version of Blue Like Jazz, the cinematic equivalent of every other piece of work he had done. “Perfectly Tayloresque” is how I described it at the time. “It’s so thoughtful for him to give Christian bookstores something to boycott again after all these years.”

To read the full review click HERE

To see the amazing animated video for the title track click HERE