GREAT FALLS — If the bass player for Chicago-based band Origami Button looks familiar, it might be because he’s a 2014 graduate of CMR High School in Great Falls.
Taylor Ford became acquainted with the band while studying music at Chicago’s Columbia College and has been a member for three years. The band’s music is a combination of complicated riffs, atypical time signatures, and interesting key changes. “It’s almost like jazz rock, but not like 'old man' jazz,” said Ford.
In addition to Ford on bass, the band consists of front man Carter Jones, drummer Matt Kerner, and guitarists Rene Gutierrez and Brandon Amaloo.
They call their musical style "math rock" and the numbers are adding up. Their first album, “Button Season," has been streamed well over a million times on Spotify. The popular single “Sorbet” has more than half a million streams.
Just over a week ago, “Peach," the second single from their upcoming album, was released. “Peach is a tribute to our approach to writing a pop song,” said Ford. “Peach isn’t personally one of my favorite songs on the new record but it is certainly our most pop friendly one that we think is going to reach to people who aren’t really familiar with math rock.”
While the pandemic has put live performances on the back burner and all but ended in-person rehearsals, it has produced some positives. “People by default are all on social media, they all see that “Peach” is out there and then they go check out the music video and they like it and they share it,” said Ford.
Ford says 2022 is a realistic timeline for the band’s live shows to return, with plenty of music to record until then. “As far as music for now, we have way more stuff than we’ve released already, you know already in the process of being written,” said Ford.
Creativity runs in the Ford family. His dad Jamie is a New York Times bestselling author. His sister is a tattoo artist and he has a brother who’s pursuing a career in music.
Taylor says even though he met a lot of talented musicians in Montana, his time in Chicago has opened a whole new world. “They weren't aware of all this greater music that's out there in the world,” said Ford. They're very secluded to the music that they know like classic rock and country and pop hits. Now that I'm in Chicago, I can see all the music from the musician's perspective because I've met so many people here.
Taylor also plays piano for ballet classes and delivers for a Chicago based food company, a job that allows him to focus on his passion. “I work on a lot of music and I can listen to music in the car and listen to mixes I’m working on and listen to demos I’m working on.”
The band’s second album, “No Parking," will be available on music platforms March 26th. Click here for their Spotify page. Click here to check out their Bandcamp page.
