Art & Culture
Pop and soul Bloom on singer’s new album
Recorded over lockdown, Rosie Frater-Taylor’s new album Bloom sees the east London-based singer, songwriter and guitarist reach out to the more pop and soul side of her jazz background.
“It’s a reflection of my tastes, and what I’m listening to,” the 21-year-old tells us over Zoom. “I spent a lot of my teenage years playing jazz, learning jazz guitar and studying. I think this is a lifecycle that a lot of jazz musicians go through; they learn so much, they perform jazz so frequently, that they almost have an adverse reaction to it at some point. Song writing has had a stronger and stronger hold over me over the last few years, to the point where I'm mostly listening to songwriters and pop music as opposed to jazz – but obviously, all of the jazz is still in there in the back of my mind.”
Citing influences such as Emily King, Becca Stevens, Lianne La Havas and Tom Misch she says “it’s the poppier side of the spectrum, but they've got the jazzy influence in there”.
Frater-Taylor will be performing tracks from Bloom, plus some covers and maybe even some new material when she plays live at the Silver Building for Royal Docks Originals festival on 22 October.
I feel in a really good place to play this show in the Royal Docks. It will be with the first one on the tour with a full band, which is great
Rosie Frater-Taylor
Growing up in a musical household, Frater-Taylor found her roots in jazz and writing simultaneously, studying at Tomorrow’s Warriors, NYJO, the Royal Academy of Music and attending song writing workshops at the Roundhouse. Her prowess was apparent early on when in 2018 she released self-produced debut album On My Mind to acclaim by the likes of 6Music’s Tom Robinson and Jazzwise magazine. Bloom is another exciting progression for this fast-rising star, catching the attention of Jamie Cullum, Gilles Peterson, Nitin Sawhney and many others.
Frater-Taylor says she’s really enjoying finally getting to tour the album. “I've been quite fortunate, I had several opportunities to play live over lockdown. Ronnie Scott’s were doing a regular livestream which I had the privilege to do in March. And I've since had a couple of shows in London. But I was saying to my mum today how nice it is to be doing a run of shows and really getting into the groove of playing the songs. I feel in a really good place to play this show in the Royal Docks. It will be with the first one on the tour with a full band, which is great.”
Book your tickets to the concert here.
