The Meaning Of Contentment

Alexis Taylor “Crying in the Chapel”

Alexis Taylor’s interpretation of “Crying in the Chapel” is faithful to the tone of Elvis Presley’s classic recording, but strips nearly everything out of the arrangement aside from piano. There’s just enough there to give the song its shape, and a slight amount of reverb to imply the richness of the Presley version. Taylor’s voice is nowhere near as honeyed and slick, but he sings with such earnestness that this is more than just another “weak-voiced indie singer plays a minimalist version of an old song” routine. He sounds totally overwhelmed by love and sentimentality; every note of this performance is filled with the saddest sort of joy. It reminds me of Cat Power’s recording of “Sea of Love,” which pulls off a similar trick of pushing a syrupy ballad into full-on tearjerker territory.

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