Heather Taylor
"House of Healing"
Self-released
Heather Taylor's "House of Healing" opens like summer's dawn with a dramatic, flashy flute flourish that hands off the baton to the woman's mighty voice. It's a voice that is full of smoky tone and magnetic, hypnotic vibrato. There's just something fascinating about a voice like this that seems reserved, in deference and reverence to the song when it's obvious the voice is holding back in volume but not in its honesty and intensity.
Taylor is the epitome of this, especially on her new seven-cut send-up. The way she works her way through the tracks is a study in the space between the cracks, the unsaid, and the unheard. It's a tease; it's tenacious and somewhat tantric. Refined enough to be beautiful, yet kept raw to remain believable. "House of Healing" hits you on so many levels like whispering thunder. The album demands multiple listens to fully realize and appreciate the power in Taylor's songs and the subtly of her soul. It's a lullaby with something to say ... and hear.