The Dark Horse [Audio CD] Tailor

Description

Written by Lisa Verrico That half of Tailor’s debut album was written in a day is remarkable enough. That those songs spilt out of the Cape Town-based singer without any warning is as strange and striking as ‘The Dark Horse’ sounds. After four years laying the groundwork for her first solo project, in February, Tailor travelled to her hometown of Johannesburg to record half a dozen demos. To her surprise, she finished the session with twice as much material and a new-found understanding of what inspires her songs. “As Tailor, it was my first time solo in a proper studio with a producer,” recalls the singer, who was first signed with a band at the age of 15. “I took what I thought were my twelve best songs, written over a few years. Just as we finished laying down the last one, I began playing about on my guitar and singing lyrics that seemed to sail in to my head. I didn’t even realise I had written a song until the producer asked me to play it again because he hadn’t hit record.” “The title, ‘The Dark Horse’, is significant,” says Tailor. “I felt like a dark horse that day. I felt as vulnerable as I did as a child. The songs aren’t about any particular childhood event, more that moment of clarity when you realise not everything your parents told you is true; when you discover your values are different and what you’ve grown up believing is not what you believe in at all.”