Dave Scanlon - Taste Like Labor (2023)

Just as the family photograph is descriptive of a gathering, the 12 songs on Dave Scanlon’s album Taste Like Labor are descriptive of sentiments. Documenting, describing, and cataloging feelings, the songs breathe with earnestness. Sonically, Taste Like Labor reflects Scanlon’s previous records 'Pink in each, bright blue, bright green' (2021) and 'You are copper greening in open air' (2015). The pastoral folk songs are lyrically focused, driven by voice and guitar. However, Taste Like Labor features the ever-shifting, kaleidoscopic production of Shannon Fields (Stars Like Fleas, Leverage Models).

The family photograph documents personal history, existing as an isolated, expressive object. The songs’ descriptions exist both in relation to—and isolated from—their origins. The abstracted feeling, within all twelve songs, floats to us beyond verbal imagery.