Song-by-Song: ‘Keeping It Together’ by Riva Taylor

Riva Taylor: “Numerous trips to Latin America…certainly helped redefine and focus my music.” Photo: Prisca Tozzi

The singer-songwriter on her EP shaped by travels through Latin America, cinematic grooves, and the beauty of everyday emotional honesty

The songs for this EP were written and produced with Marcus Foster between London and Brooklyn, New York. It was my goal to preserve what I had learned over the past few years after numerous trips to Latin America, collaborating with artists and producers there. This had been such a pivotal moment for me as a writer, a deep dive into Latin culture, its music and rhythms, which has certainly helped redefine and focus my music. I hoped to bring everything I’ve learned so far as a writer to this EP.

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KEEPING IT TOGETHER

We started writing this one after listening to Henry Mancini’s album Mr Lucky Goes Latin, especially the song Lujon. It’s a record I’ve always loved. Marcus [Foster] works in the film world as well as having his roots as a songwriter in soul. With this song, we hoped to weave all these influences together. When it came to writing most of the songs on this EP, the real experimentation came when choosing the direction the percussion would take. With this one, we settled on a nice Bossa groove.

I wrote this with Marcus out in Brooklyn, NY. I had just done the morning commute from where I was staying in Manhattan, on the subway, to Marcus’s studio. It was a sunny day and there was a sense of routine and formality amongst everyone going about their day-to-day lives. We wanted to capture something in this one that was real and honest, nodding to the fact that life isn’t perfect, it has its mundane moments, and sometimes dark clouds and world issues hang over the subconscious and set a universal tone. These are the times everyone is just, “keeping it together,” putting one foot in front of the other, until things settle back into a better place.

Riva Taylor on Hey Ho: “We got carried away, and the rest of the song wrote itself.” Photo: Prisca Tozzi

EYES OF A STRANGER

This song was inspired by a friend’s words to me. She had been going through a rough patch and felt generally undervalued and not “seen” by people in many areas in her life. I thought about this and remembered that some of the times that I had felt the most connected to other human beings has been through small acts of kindness from those I don’t know so well: from the strangers in the street as opposed to friends and family. This is a song about human connection, written and sung from one stranger to another.

As with the majority of songs on the EP, we tried to keep this one as organic as possible in instrumentation, with some small subtle synth elements to keep it fresh. Marcus is a big fan of his Rhodes Wurli, which has its place on most of the tracks in this EP. There was initially a lot more synth but we stripped it back after a few drafts. This one is all about allowing the words and the message to speak, without distraction.

HEY HO

This started off as its own thing entirely, and I think still remains that on the EP. Standing out slightly from the others as a nod to the golden age of jazz era, it takes the nostalgic twist running through all the songs on the EP to new depths. When we wrote the hook/chorus we debated whether this might remain as an interlude, but we got carried away, and the rest of the song wrote itself – it stuck as a complete work.

What really brought it to life was the amazing work of Ben Brown on the drums and Paul Jordanous on horns. You can hear them throughout the EP and their talents really brought the tracks a whole new life. On Hey Ho, my favourite moment is the interlude where we all come together and have a bit of a party. In fact, I wanted to try something entirely new in this moment and dusted off a very old pair of tap shoes I have (as an ex-dancer). Marcus and I created a rhythm loop from my feet for the interlude section as a bit of a nod to the showgirl era. It’s very low in the mix but I wonder if anyone has heard it!?

Riva Taylor on Valentine Road: “It’s a song that has lived as a file on my laptop since 2021.” Photo: Prisca Tozzi

GREAT UNKNOWN

Marcus and I wrote this one on Zoom! I have to say it’s not a process I enjoy as much as making music from a studio, but this one got to a really good place, pretty fast.

It’s a song I rarely write, but it’s about all-encompassing love and getting carried away with the idea of it, and it was fun so I’m making a point of trying to do this more! We wanted to be playful and light with the lyrics, “Did we wake up in some old forgotten song?”, “Our train rolled in right on time”. My favourite part of this song is the introduction of sounds that mirror the lyrics, like a real-life train horn on the second verse. It brings an added immersive dimension to this song that makes it one of the favourites for me on the EP.

VALENTINE ROAD

Written on Valentine Road in Hackney, E9, the song’s title serves as both a literal reference and a metaphor for the winding, unpredictable nature of relationships. It was the first song I wrote with Marcus. It’s a song that has lived as a file on my laptop since 2021 and, ironically, given its ethereal backing vocals and ghostly imagery, is a melody that has haunted me ever since writing it.

I repeatedly revisited the demo, waiting for the right moment to release it. As soon as I turned up at Marcus’s studio on Valentine Road (when he was living in London), I knew what the title of our song would be. It’s written for all those people out there who have been in love with the idea of a relationship that didn’t actually exist. In all its honesty, the song presents Valentine Road as a long and varied one which always offers hope…

It draws inspiration from my jazz roots, while subtly nodding to the legendary songwriting of the 60s…we listened to all sorts before we put pen to paper here… Joni Mitchell’s poetic introspection and the melodic sensibilities of The Beatles. It’s the most reflective track on the EP, so it felt like a natural closer: “I’ll keep looking out beyond the crowd”.

Keeping It Together by Riva Taylor is out now via Virgin Music Group. You can listen to the EP here: ingrv.es

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