ABOUT ME / CONTACT
Alec Taylor (that's me!) is a husband, son, brother, and scientist, although I'm sure you're mainly concerned with who he is as a musician. He first began making music way back in 2009, taking heavy inspiration from The Beatles early on. None of his recordings from between 2009 and 2013 have survived, although it's no major loss if I'm being truthful. From 2013 to 2016, he created his signature style of instrumental art rock under the stage name SunShade, experimented with vaporwave and electronic music throughout 2016 as Phantom Turnip, then briefly began releasing art pop music under his own name in 2017 before entering a four-year hiatus. After briefly forming a band named The Verdant Stars in 2019 that did nothing, he returned to music properly in 2021 as himself, writing and recording instrumental music that took cues from all across his history to create something truly unique to himself.
The biggest influence on his songwriting is the progressive rock movement of the 1970s and 1980s. Pink Floyd, Genesis, King Crimson, Rick Wright, Peter Gabriel, and Steven Wilson have had the biggest effect on the art rock aspects of his music. However, as a child of the 1990s, the video game soundtracks he grew up with also informed some of his more pop-oriented leanings, those being the soundtracks to Sonic the Hedgehog, NiGHTS into Dreams, and the Chrono Trigger / Chrono Cross duology of JRPGs. Outside of these, various vaporwave artists and jazz musicians have also bled into his songwriting, giving each song he writes a different flavor from the rest.
Nowadays he is pushing forward as a songwriter and composer, striking the balance between surrealistic art pop and full-blown conceptual suites. Embracing the lifetime trope he spent so long running from, making faux soundtracks to nothing in particular, he is now working towards being a proper soundtrack composer. Whether he's making silly singles, pretentious instrumental suites, or soundtracks utilizing his unique sound, you always get someone who just loves to create in any way he can, and is enthusiastic to share his creations with whoever stops by. Even making one person's day a little better is what makes it all worth it in the end. It's amazing at all that a faceless nobody from the rural farmlands of the Midwestern United States can even reach a global audience at all, and it's not something that is taken for granted.
If you wish to contact me, then sending me an electronic mail is your best bet. I do take commissions for original music, so reach out if you'd like to work with me. My primary hubs for releasing music are Spotify and Bandcamp, but I also keep up on uploading music to YouTube as another way to grow my audience. I know there are other streaming services that DistroKid sends my music to (Apple Music, iHeart Radio, etc.), but I don't know much about them.
Thanks for stopping by!
-AT