{"id":33756,"date":"2019-12-06T03:54:53","date_gmt":"2019-12-06T11:54:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/?p=33756"},"modified":"2019-12-03T23:09:12","modified_gmt":"2019-12-04T07:09:12","slug":"taali-writes-sings-heart-out","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/2019\/12\/06\/taali-writes-sings-heart-out\/","title":{"rendered":"Taali writes, sings heart out"},"content":{"rendered":"

Taali\u2019s EP Were Most of Your Stars Out?<\/em> was released last month.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cKol ha\u2019olam kulo gesher tzar me\u2019od, veha\u2019ikar lo lifached k\u2019lal\u201d<\/em> \u2013 \u201cThe entire world is a narrow bridge, and the main thing is to not be afraid.\u201d Taali\u2019s recently released EP Were Most of Your Stars Out?<\/em> begins with \u201cThe Main Thing Is,\u201d and, it seems, the singer-songwriter and producer has followed Rabbi Nachman of Breslov\u2019s advice from more than 200 years ago, and made the prayer her own. While there are countless versions, Taali\u2019s a cappella take showcases her rich, full sound and sets the mood for the entire recording.<\/p>\n

The name of the EP comes from J.D. Salinger\u2019s novella Seymour: An Introduction<\/em>, which Taali (n\u00e9e Talia Billig) highlights as her favourite book. On her Facebook page, she cites the passage from which the album title comes: \u201cDo you know what I was smiling at? You wrote down that you were a writer by profession. It sounded to me like the loveliest euphemism I had ever heard. When was writing ever your profession? It\u2019s never been anything but your religion. Never. I\u2019m a little over-excited now. Since it is your religion, do you know what you will be asked when you die? … I\u2019m so sure you\u2019ll get asked only two questions. Were most of your stars out? Were you busy writing your heart out?\u201d<\/p>\n

Were Most of Your Stars Out?<\/em> comprises acoustic versions of seven songs. It was produced by the label Rainbow Blonde Records<\/a>, a collective she co-founded with her partner, singer-songwriter and producer Jos\u00e9 James, and engineer and producer Brian Bender. Released last month, the EP follows almost on the heels of Taali\u2019s full-length record I Am Here<\/em>, which came out in March.<\/p>\n

Taali describes her music as Jewish contemporary pop, but, while Jewish melodies and\/or concepts permeate her compositions, the sound is definitely more pop than liturgical, though she likes her minor keys. And all listeners, regardless of religious or secular affiliations, will find something to connect to in the lyrics. In an extensive interview with the now-defunct online publication Arq<\/em>, Taali \u2013 whose stage name is a family nickname \u2013 talks about music being communal. \u201cIf I\u2019m promoting it,\u201d she said, \u201cit has to be in the service of community.\u201d<\/p>\n

That philosophy, combined with her appreciation for the Jewish tradition of storytelling, which was instilled in her growing up, and her musical skill and knowledge, makes Taali\u2019s songs eminently listenable and relatable. That Were Most of Your Stars Out?<\/em> is an acoustic recording adds to the intimacy. The use of synthesizer on \u201cThis Is What Love Is\u201d and \u201cWayward Star\u201d takes away some of that atmosphere, but one nonetheless gets the feeling that Taali doesn\u2019t put on airs, and would put as much heart into singing off the cuff at a small gathering as she does performing on a concert stage.<\/p>\n

Born in Manhattan, Taali has lived most of her life in New York City, with the exception of a couple of years in Los Angeles. One of the narrow bridges she has had to cross is vocal cord surgery, in 2016, which meant months of being unable to speak or sing. She turned her focus to songwriting for other performers during this period of recovery but, she told Billboard<\/em>, there was one song she \u201ccouldn\u2019t conceive of just giving\u201d to another singer, and that was \u201cHear You Now.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI have quite a bit of trauma myself that I\u2019ve never really felt safe enough to address,\u201d she said about the song in that interview. \u201cIt was really wrenching, but I tried to do justice to those feelings. It\u2019s the beginnings of talking to myself rather than an on-the-nose accounting of what happened, and what I tried to do, lyrically, was apologize to myself for the years I didn\u2019t have the words or strength to name or push away these people who were treating me badly.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHear You Now\u201d is about finally saying \u201call the words you haven\u2019t said,\u201d \u201cthe words that you swallowed down\u201d \u2013 \u201cYou held it in, now lay it all to rest…. Lift away the weight of everything you couldn\u2019t say\u201d and \u201cMake them hear you now.\u201d<\/p>\n

The song \u201cSnowfall on Orchard,\u201d which closes Were Most of Your Stars Out?<\/em>, also has special meaning. It was written about five years ago with Jos\u00e9 James, who provides some lovely vocals and beautiful harmony on the track.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s the first original song that we wrote together,\u201d says Taali in her bio, \u201cand I think it\u2019s a little postcard of a very, very optimistic moment in our lives, and a very in love moment.\u201d<\/p>\n

Were Most of Your Stars Out?<\/em> is available from several online music services, including Spotify<\/a>, iTunes<\/a> and Amazon<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Taali\u2019s EP Were Most of Your Stars Out? was released last month. \u201cKol ha\u2019olam kulo gesher tzar me\u2019od, veha\u2019ikar lo lifached k\u2019lal\u201d \u2013 \u201cThe entire world is a narrow bridge, and the main thing is to not be afraid.\u201d Taali\u2019s recently released EP Were Most of Your Stars Out? begins with \u201cThe Main Thing Is,\u201d […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":33757,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[788],"tags":[218,9504],"class_list":["post-33756","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-music","tag-judaism","tag-taali"],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":8}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33756","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=33756"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33756\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/33757"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=33756"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=33756"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=33756"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}