Great is the human that understands purpose. Even greater are the humans that esteem their known purpose with impenetrable belief and focused action. Dylan Tauber is among the “even greater” as exemplary with his latest musical contribution, He Loves Carmen. Pioneering in the hemisphere of electronica music under the Sons of Waves Studios banner, Tauber released 14 songs on his 14th album all supporting the thesis of love in the midst of war.
On He Loves Carmen, Tauber interprets the emotion of love with a variety of stealthy sound combinations that makes for a genre-bending, sonic euphoria. An uptempo, fist-pumping “Don’t Tell Me” kicks off the 14-track musical exhibition laminated with a colossal of electronic instrumentation involving a mixture of keyboard drums and strings, along with an ethereal voice sample. What follows is the album’s namesake title track, “I Love Carmen,” which bargains to be the ultimate spirit of Tauber’s effort as an angelic voice pleas for the receiver to “hold on” and to be taken “somewhere far away from here.” The sentiment may just be the message that Tauber hopes to relay.
The award-winning musician lives a well-traveled life as a student of the world. Upon graduating from Columbia University in New York, Tauber has made it a life’s work to share his gift of music, photography, cyber artistry, and writing in various locations, such as the U.S., Jerusalem, and Northern Israel, for instance.
Because of his cultured roots, and his association with Israel that has for so long been linked to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, he is very understanding of the need for peace, love, and harmony. So, it was no surprise that Tauber invited Ukraine artist Anastasia Derkach to be featured on his song “Light Warrior” amid the Russia-Ukraine conflict. The inspiring pop and electronica track merges the strong vocal arrangements of Derkach with the effervescent waves of Tauber’s production work.
Burrowed in the hopefulness of He Loves Carmen is a lonesome inquiry that leans more toward sorrow, even if there are no lyrics to validate the emotion. For every “Soulmate” and “There Are Angels Everywhere,” there’s the dichotomous retrospection of “I Miss You” and “The Sky Is Alive,” which may very well illustrate the thought-provoking double entendre of love amid war, depending on perspective.
Tauber makes it a point to solidify the theme of love on the last quarter of the album. Delivered like a storytelling experience, this is just an interpretation, but it appears that something or someone is lost. Although the album is named for his beloved partner, Carmen, it appears that the last five tracks are specifically dedicated to a life removed and a life left behind.
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The writings’ on the wall, with track five titled “I Miss You,” where he returns to a similar model of music-making used for “Don’t Tell Me.” Suddenly, emptiness of the heart is immediately replaced with the hopeful message of “There Are Angels Everywhere,” a song that blurs the lines of electronica and chill hip hop. “You Are Never Alone” follows the same guidelines of bringing solace to the spirit, but the approach is different as Tauber sprinkles a dubbed vocal sync over the mid-tempo track against a constant melodic kick.
The standout track, “I Love My Father,” mellows the frequency of a high-vibrational project with a serene, terrestrial instrumentation showing again that Tauber does a great job of blending love and pain.
His encore of sorts, “Love Is All That Exists,” reassures the listener that even with the ups and downs of an uncertain journey, love conquers all. It’s in the way that Tauber intentionally uses lighter ambient inflections of sound effortlessly combined with delicate soprano vocals.
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All in all, Dylan Tauber’s “He Loves Carmen” tells the story of a one-of-a-kind human experience that can easily translate universally through his evidenced passion for electronica. Purpose fulfilled.
