Lynn Teeter Flower

iTunes Review

For her second solo album, Azure Ray’s Maria Taylor runs the gamut from hop-skipping dance beats (“Irish Goodbye”) to pure bucolic folk (“Lost Time”). Her voice is a tear-stained rasp and her lyrics carry worldly weight, but this is no mopey sadcore collection (though it does nonetheless sounds fab at 3 a.m.). Recorded in various locations with fellow musical notables such as Spoon’s Jim Eno in Austin, Now it’s Overhead’s Andy LeMaster in Athens, GA, and Doug Easley in Memphis, Lynn Teeter Flower (named after a family friend from back home in Birmingham, AL) offers a refreshing variety of sound without losing its sonic thread. Bright Eyes’ Conor Oberst co-wrote and harmonizes on the quick-strummed “The Ballad of Sean Foley,” while Taylor’s brother Macey and sister Kate, members of her live touring group, add bass and keyboards, respectively. “Smile and Wave” courses past with an effectively psychedelic mellotron and deft double-tracked vocals, while the plaintive acoustic “Clean Getaway” is sparse and foreboding. Her piano tunes provide both bounce and gravity, as “Replay” pumps forth a ‘70s vibe that never turns ironic.