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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 from Colorado. Known for her otherworldly and time-defying voice[2][3] her work weaves older styles with the modern.[4]

As a teenager she worked as a church 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 music 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.[5]

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[6] of 19th century German Lieder by Brahms, Schubert, Schumann and Wolf. This Coming Gladness, a rock album of avant-folk arias [7] was released in 2008 and featured Victor Herrero (electric guitar) and Alex Neilson (percussion)[8].

In 2009 Foster recorded her settings of 27 Emily Dickinson poems entitled Graphic as a Star. Composed as austere miniatures for voice and guitar, they were released with the British independent record label, Fire Records[9]. 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.

She returned to record in Colorado her album Blood Rushing, imagined as a ballet chanté [10] built upon the rhythm of a heartbeat. A "mythical western movie imbued landscape"[11] with "avant-garde soul" [12] was captured in a Boulder dance and yoga studio 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.

I'm A Dreamer (2013), was given five stars by TimeOut magazine, and acclaimed as "a quiet masterclass in songwriting that perfectly invokes old Americana" [13] was recorded in Nashville and co-produced by Andrija Tokic. On this album she "returned to the early 20th century Americana of her 2005 debut ‘Hazel Eyes, I Will Lead You’, in the excellent company of a nine-piece band"[14].

The chamber album No More Lamps in the Morning came out in 2016 [15] . Recorded in a church [16] it features reworkings of songs drawn from her 2008 album This Coming Gladness and others[17]. She also iinterprets her settings of Rudyard Kipling's 'Blue Roses' and 'My Dove, My Beautiful One' by James Joyce.[18]

Bathed in "bucolic primitivism" [19] Faithful Fairy Harmony was listed as one of Wire Magazine's top albums of 2018 [20]. The double album was recorded in Nashville once more by Andrija Tokic, and with many of the same players from her 2013 album I'm A Dreamer, including Victor Herrero (guitars), Gyða Valtýsdóttir (cello), Chris Scruggs (pedal steel guitar), and Jon Estes (bass).

In 2019 the title song from Foster's album I'm A Dreamer was featured in Season 2, episode 7 of the British television show The End of the F***ing World [21].

In 2020 Josephine Foster appears in cameo as a casino singer for episode 3 of the HBO show Perry Mason[22]. She sings covers of 'Aventurera' by Agustín Lara and 'Son de la Loma' by Miguel Matamoros in original arrangements created for the series with Victor Herrero; 'Cuando Vienes del Monte' and 'Brillante Estrella' from their 2011 record Perlas (Fire Records) are also featured in the episode.

Discography

  • 2000: There Are Eyes Above
  • 2001: Little Life
  • 2003: SOS JFK (with The Children's Hour)
  • 2004: All the Leaves Are Gone (with the Supposed)
  • 2004: Born Heller (S/T, Born Heller)
  • 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[23]
  • 2016 No More Lamps in the Morning[24]
  • 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. ^ https://www.chicagoreader.com/chicago/which-way-to-the-new-weird-america-that-mellifluous-mojo/Content?oid=920387
  3. ^ https://drownedinsound.com/releases/4192/reviews/12890-josephine-foster-hazel-eyes-i-will-lead-you
  4. ^ "Endearingly Odd Musician Casts a Spell". Retrieved November 21, 2019.
  5. ^ "Josephine Foster & the Supposed". Archived from the original on June 5, 2011. Retrieved February 29, 2008.
  6. ^ https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/3325-a-wolf-in-sheeps-clothing/
  7. ^ https://www.allmusic.com/album/this-coming-gladness-mw0000791521
  8. ^ https://www.tinymixtapes.com/music-review/josephine-foster-coming-gladness
  9. ^ https://www.allmusic.com/album/graphic-as-a-star-mw0001937549
  10. ^ https://www.allmusic.com/album/release/blood-rushing-mr0003739903
  11. ^ http://www.godisinthetvzine.co.uk/2012/09/20/josephine-foster-blood-rushing-fire-records/
  12. ^ https://thankfolkforthat.com/review-josephine-foster-blood-rushing/
  13. ^ https://www.timeout.com/london/music/josephine-foster-im-a-dreamer-album-review
  14. ^ https://www.timeout.com/london/music/josephine-foster-im-a-dreamer-album-review
  15. ^ https://www.folkradio.co.uk/2016/02/josephine-foster-no-more-lamps-in-the-morning-album-review/
  16. ^ https://www.tinymixtapes.com/music-review/josephine-foster-no-more-lamps-morning
  17. ^ https://www.thewire.co.uk/audio/tracks/listen-exclusive-track-josephine-foster-forthcoming-album
  18. ^ "No More Lamps in the Morning". Amazon.com. Retrieved February 7, 2016.
  19. ^ https://www.dukechronicle.com/article/2018/12/181212-atkinson-2018-albums
  20. ^ https://www.yearendlists.com/2018/12/wire-top-50-releases-of-2018
  21. ^ https://www.newsweek.com/end-f-ing-world-season-2-soundtrack-songs-potatoes-graham-coxon-netflix-1470135
  22. ^ https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2077823/fullcredits?ref_=tt_cl_sm#cast
  23. ^ Josephine Foster. "Josephine Foster | Discography". AllMusic. Retrieved December 5, 2013.
  24. ^ "No More Lamps in the Morning". Amazon.com. Retrieved February 7, 2016.
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