Telling the truth is hard. It’s also liberating. On her debut album, talker (the alias of indie rocker Celeste Tauchar) isn’t keeping any secrets.
Over the past five years, talker has released 3 EPs to critical acclaim, receiving nods from NPR Music, The A.V. Club, Billboard, and more. She’s toured throughout the U.S. supporting Future Teens, Smidley, and Party Nails, and has done co-headlining tours with Lady Pills, Maddie Ross, and Lou Roy. In July 2023, she hosted a weekly residency at the Love Song in Los Angeles, performing a different body of work at every show. When it comes to creating a community around her work and a platform to be heard, talker hasn’t left any stone unturned.
But when it came to uncovering every side of herself, talker felt she was still holding back. During a particularly tumultuous year that included ending a 5-year relationship, discovering her own bisexuality that she had pushed down due to her Mormon upbringing, and coming face to face with unprocessed childhood trauma, she took, as usual, to writing. But this time was different. There were no topics left unexplored, nothing left unsaid for fear of hurting someone’s feelings, and no words left unwritten for the sake of avoiding an uncomfortable emotion. There was only one thing that mattered: the truth.
The eleven songs that make up talker’s debut album are some of her most honest songs - from the raging angst-filled “TWENTYSOMETHING” (a fitting accompaniment to today’s female-driven punk songwriters like illuminati hotties, Speedy Ortiz, and Wet Leg) where the listener gets to be pissed off without justification, to more confessional, self-examining ballad “Easygoing”, which will leave listeners realizing that their parents’ relationship made them unable to accept intimacy or date in a healthy way (spoken from personal experience).
Overall, the music feels like sharing secrets with a friend. You’ll be angry together, you’ll get your hearts broken together, and you’ll set some boundaries with your friends together, even when it’s hard.
Created while touring and between LA and Nashville, the album features new collaborations, including songs produced with Collin Pastore & Jake Finch (Lucy Dacus, boygenius, illuminati hotties), Daniel Loumpouridis (Louis the Child, KING MALA, Ryan Woods), Jon Graber (We Are The Union, Goldfinger, The All-American Rejects), and Aidan Hogg (G Flip, Hatchie).
TWENTYSOMETHING, the first single, arrives October 18th, and is the energetic kick-off to this journey of self-exploration and baring it all. After that, talker will have a new release every month leading up to the album in June, paired with local LA shows in the fall and touring throughout the spring and summer. All you have to do to connect to the music is to accept your truth and share it with the world.
