While writing and recording in New York and Amsterdam in 2020 and 2021, Taali drifted toward a more open-ended style of songform and performance, where she channeled her affinity for such artists as Fiona Apple and Sufjan Stevens to create almost 300 pieces of music, which she condensed into an unadorned, soul-stirring 13-song statement about grief, wanderlust, self-discovery, and empowerment.
Rock & Roll Globe had the chance to go track by track with Billig while in conversation about taali, offering insight into each song with the same knack for exposition she brings to her music. Please note the Jos she refers to is her life partner, acclaimed Blue Note recording artist Jos James.
This was the first song I attempted after 51 days of COVID fever. When the thermometer finally read 98.6 the world was still shut down, and our shows were canceled for the foreseeable forever. There was abject panic, a kind I had never known before and hope to never know again.
We had this little studio that we had been slowly assembling as we got our lives back together. The process was slow going, because at that point I could barely get up a flight of stairs. But when I could finally sustain some notes I sat down at the computer and got to demoing.
In 2021 I took a massive, terrifying leap and moved to Amsterdam. In doing so I left behind my family, my community, and, most jarringly, my home town of Manhattan. Leaving NYC, a town tied to my creation, self, family, identity, all of it, was wrenching to say the least. It brought me to a startling and compelling precipice.
This song first came to me while in an AirBNB in Hudson, NY. Jos and I had booked a one night excursion there right before we got our visas to move to Holland. That pending one way flight was the only thing keeping me going, and I thought it was a really compelling theme that might resonate with other people.
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