Coloma is the collaboration between singer/lyricist Robert Taylor and producer/composer Alex Paulick. Though originally from England, the two spent a period of musical education and discovery in Cologne, Germany, where Taylor is still based. Paulick flits between Cologne, Berlin, the UK and his teenage home in California (a few miles from Coloma). This geographical caprice is without doubt one key to the Coloma sound.
Coloma’s debut "Silverware" (2002, Ware Records) was widely praised for its rare combination of emotive songwriting and minimal electronics. The follow-up, "Finery" (2003) solidified Coloma’s reputation for finely crafted sophisti-pop. The album was received with enthusiasm internationally. In 2004 Coloma won the "Espoir" prize at the Qwartz Electronic Music Awards in Paris.
Coloma’s third album "Dovetail" (2005) found the duo taking an unexpected step away from electronic sound, in exchange for a collage of edited real-time performances, guest musicians – even a horn section. And once again, "Dovetail" was an intriguing pop-hybrid, characterized by the Taylor/Paulick approach to songwriting. Thanks to Coloma's dedicated and surprisingly large following enough online votes were cast to ensure the album also won a Qwartz award - this time "Best Album" - and that same year a panel of judges awarded Coloma the "Qwartz Artiste" prize.
Coloma's fourth long player will be released on 23 February 2009 on Italic. Entitled "Love's Recurring Dream", it is a song cycle with recurring harmonic and rhythmic themes. Lyrically, the album is a narrative chronicling the phases of a romance, which symbolically runs over the course of a year. In the twelve songs, singer Robert Taylor follows the progress of the seasons from spring, summer and autumn to winter, with the implicit promise that a new spring will follow. For the recording, a group of musicians was assembled in San Francisco for improvisational sessions that make up the body of the album. Precise editing by producer Alex Paulick brings coherence to these spontaneous takes, with performances ebbing and flowing between rather loose and artificially tight. Prior to the release of Love's Recurring Dream, Coloma played a triumvirate of live shows with a six-piece band – watch this space for further live dates.
