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Josephine Foster

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Josephine Foster
Background information
BornColorado, United States
GenresFolk, art song, psychedelic rock, experimental, New Weird America[1]
Occupation(s)Singer, songwriter, musician, music producer
Instrument(s)Guitar, piano, harp, organ
Years active2000–present
LabelsFire Records, Windbell, Bo' Weavil Recordings, Locust Music,
Websitewww.josephinefoster.info

Josephine Foster is an American singer-songwriter, record producer, composer and artist from Colorado. Her music draws from various sources and is usually classified as folk. The lyrics and style of most of her music weaves older styles with the modern.[2]

As an adolescent she worked as a funeral and wedding singer, and aspired to become an opera singer. After her studies she began to record demos of her own songs, resulting in the early recordings There Are Eyes Above (2000), an album of ukulele accompanied songs strongly influenced by Tin Pan Alley, and an album of children's songs, Little Life (2001).

For several years she worked as a singing teacher in Chicago, recording and performing with a variety of musical acts on the side (including Born Heller, a project with free jazz-bassist Jason Ajemian, and The Children's Hour, a pop band formed with songwriter Andrew Bar). In 2004, joined by her occasional backing band The Supposed (Brian Goodman on guitar and Rusty Peterson on drums), she released a psychedelic rock album called All the Leaves Are Gone which has drawn comparison to Patti Smith and Jefferson Airplane.[3]

The songs on her first solo studio album Hazel Eyes, I Will Lead You (2005, Locust Music) evoke American folk and blues forms of the early 20th century. A Wolf in Sheep's Clothing, released in 2006, features unorthodox electrified interpretations[4] of 19th century German Lieder. This Coming Gladness, a rock album of avant-folk arias [5] was released in 2008 and featured Victor Herrero (electric guitar) and Alex Neilson (percussion)[6]. In early 2009 she recorded 27 settings of Emily Dickinson poems entitled Graphic as a Star. These austere miniatures for voice and guitar were released with the British independent record label, Fire Records[7]. Working with musical partner Victor Herrero in rural Spain at that time, they began collecting and arranging collections of folk songs, resulting in the recordings Anda Jaleo (a resetting of Garcia Lorca´s piano/voice transcriptions of Spanish songs), and its follow-up Perlas.

In 2012, she returned to Colorado to record a solo album Blood Rushing which took inspiration from local themes from her childhood such as the western geography, native rhythms, and imagined mythology. The album was recorded in a Boulder by Andrija Tokic and featured Victor Herrero on classical and electric guitars, Paz Lenchantin on bass, Heather Trost on violin, and Ben Trimble on pueblo skin drums.

Foster released a full-length album, I'm A Dreamer on November 12, 2013, recorded in Nashville and co-produced by Andrija Tokic. No More Lamps in the Morning came out in 2016, resettings of her previously released songs with Victor Herrero accompanying on the Portuguese guitar. It was recorded in a Hudson NY church [8] and included a new setting of a poem by James Joyce.[9]

Faithful Fairy Harmony, a double album of her original spirituals and country blues ballads, was listed as one of Wire Magazine's top albums of 2018 [10].

Discography

  • 2000: There Are Eyes Above
  • 2001: Little Life
  • 2003: SOS JFK (with The Children's Hour)
  • 2004: All the Leaves Are Gone (Josephine Foster and the Supposed)
  • 2004: Born Heller (with Jason Ajemian)
  • 2005: Hazel Eyes, I Will Lead You
  • 2006: A Wolf in Sheep's Clothing
  • 2008: This Coming Gladness
  • 2009: Graphic as a Star
  • 2010: Anda Jaleo (with The Victor Herrero Band)
  • 2012: Perlas (with The Victor Herrero Band)
  • 2012: Blood Rushing
  • 2013: I'm A Dreamer[11]
  • 2016 No More Lamps in the Morning[12]
  • 2016: More Amor (with Mendrugo)
  • 2018: Faithful Fairy Harmony

References

  1. ^ Mehr, Bob (November 3, 2005). "Which Way to the New Weird America?; That Mellifluous Mojo". Chicago Reader. Retrieved December 8, 2019.
  2. ^ "Endearingly Odd Musician Casts a Spell". Retrieved November 21, 2019.
  3. ^ "Josephine Foster & the Supposed". Archived from the original on June 5, 2011. Retrieved February 29, 2008.
  4. ^ https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/3325-a-wolf-in-sheeps-clothing/
  5. ^ https://www.allmusic.com/album/this-coming-gladness-mw0000791521
  6. ^ https://www.tinymixtapes.com/music-review/josephine-foster-coming-gladness
  7. ^ https://www.allmusic.com/album/graphic-as-a-star-mw0001937549
  8. ^ https://www.tinymixtapes.com/music-review/josephine-foster-no-more-lamps-morning
  9. ^ "No More Lamps in the Morning". Amazon.com. Retrieved February 7, 2016.
  10. ^ https://www.yearendlists.com/2018/12/wire-top-50-releases-of-2018
  11. ^ Josephine Foster. "Josephine Foster | Discography". AllMusic. Retrieved December 5, 2013.
  12. ^ "No More Lamps in the Morning". Amazon.com. Retrieved February 7, 2016.
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