Timber Timbre is the brainchild of Canadian songwriter and arranger, Taylor Kirk. The moniker refers to an early series of recordings made in a wooden cabin in the outskirts of Bobcaygeon, Ontario, where Kirk grew up before moving to Montreal. The project specialising in eerie atmospheres and southern gothic Americana. The music was vitalised from the start, by a fixation on spirituality, the macabre and the divine, as well as the influences of spirituals, voodoo rituals and horror movie soundtracks. Kirk was actually a former local filmmaker in Ontario. As a songwriter, Kirk belongs to the enduring tradition of rock’s fatalistic narrators, from Cohen and Cave to Waits and Morrison. Timber Timbre is characterised by Kirk’s baritone warble, obsessive lyricism and brooding arrangements. The most important is neither the melodies or the lyrics, but the psychological effect created by the dreamy and sinister arrangements, combined with the musical structures of folk, blues and soul. He remained a reclusive character up until his death in 2026.
The project began as a personal recording project, with the homespun Cedar Shakes in 2006, primarily on banjo or guitar, harmonica and handclaps or tambourine for rhythm. Kirk concocts the brief, claustrophobic bluegrass shuffle of So Much, the forlorn romantic ballads Home and I’m A Long Way, while Townes Van Zandt’s influence pervades the lo-fi and martial As Angels Do and It’s Only Dark strays into Waits-ian territory with its crooked banjo slaps. The album is designed to sound archaic like the songs were derived from plantation ballads, but the arrangements betray a modern sensibility.
The arrangements are improved on Medicinals, once again self-recorded and solo. It opens with the dissonant noise-piece Window Talk. There Is A Cure feels like a slowed-down spiritual with ghostly hums and ‘rattlesnake’ tambourine and even some bluesy saxophone. The ominous blues atmosphere is shared on the quasi-romantic Like A Mountain and the slow dejected country strumming and macabre imagery on Devil’s Dress, that eventually transitions into a sunny melody. There is also the creative blues shuffle, Beat the Dead Horse and the agonising It Comes Back To Haunt Us, which mimics renaissance music and finishes with a depressed vocal coda. Kirk’s vision is clarified, especially with the lyrical themes of spiritual decadence and violence obsession, which would be further refined on later work.
The early evolution culminates with the professionally produced self-titled album. Timber, Timbre, released on major labels in the US and UK. Kirk is now officially backed by Mike Posen on strings and multi-instrumentalist, Simon Trottier, forming a three-piece. The folk and blues roots has is further obscured, though the spiritual core is retained. The band veers towards pop-soul in the Beatlesian acceleration of Until The Night Is Over and the fingerclicking Lay Down In The Tall Grass, which still centres around a motif, reminiscent of film-noir. Meanwhile, Kirk imitates Cohen on We’ll Find Out and Waits in Trouble Comes Knocking. But the best track is the centrepiece Magic Arrow, a menacing boogie, steeped in spiritual symbolism. Just behind is the closer No Bold Villain, a drunken bluegrass singalong with echoes of The Band – the track that feels like the true successor to the early recordings. The straightforward folk threnody, Demon Host was used for the 2012 documentary film Stories We Tell, while Magic Arrow features briefly on Breaking Bad. Both would become signature songs. The album was also nominated for the 2009 Polaris Music Prize.
Creep on Creepin’ On continued the more collaborative approach, adding a vital contribution from saxophonist, Colin Stetson. The album is less musically ambitious than its predecessors but more conceptual and cinematic. It ostensibly cuts the ties with bluegrass and folk music, signalling the full evolution into the worlds of soul, pop and jazz. In fact, it often feels like a parody of the teen music of the 1950s. Barring three fully-instrumental dissonant sound pieces, the songs are mostly calm but neurotic ballads, narrated in Kirk’s haunting baritone and then arranged with some high-pitched blues piano and steady rhythm. The addition of Posen’s strings and Stetson’s brass do most of the heavy lifting. Bad Ritual, Creep On Creepin’ On and Black Water are some of his most gripping narratives yet, menacing and obsessive yet austere. Meanwhile, the instrumental pieces make more profound work of the extra instrumentation, conjuring the tension of occult rituals.
Hot Dreams results from Kirk’s relocation to the Laurel Canyon and collaboration with Simon Trottier and songwriter, Simone Schmidt. It has a lighter atmosphere, though otherwise feels consistent with previous releases. Tracks like Beat The Drum Slowly attempt a complex balance between the fraught atmosphere and the calm melodies. The title track (Hot Dreams) is Kirk’s first truly romantic track and another of his signatures. Meanwhile, Bring Me Simple Men and Grand Canyon evoke the cadences of spaghetti westerns, in the style of Chris Isaak, perhaps embedded in the landscape of the south-west.
Kirk stripped things down for the 4 murder ballads of the EP, I Am Coming to Paris to Kill You, including particularly the title track which weds early Dylan to the format. Then, the band adopted a more synthetic and dance-oriented sound on Sincerely, Future Pollution, sounding mostly like 80s David Bowie and in its darker moments, Ultravox and the Blue Nile. Dissociation Volume 1 returns to the classic sound. Dissociation pays homage to Dylan again, amongst another set of solemn instrumentals with macabre themes, where Kirk’s abilities shine naturally. The final album, Lovage is his most sprightly and bright album yet, filled with theatrical pop arrangements.
Taylor Kirk died on April 14, 2026, at the age of 44.
We mourn him and remember his contribution to popular music.