Biography
County Down acoustic soul rebel Foy Vance
releases his debut album, entitled ‘Hope’;
on Rubyworks on September 7th. Using a voice
and guitar template, Foy brings a fresh, honest and genuinely
soulful insight into the art of song and performance. His
gifts being an astonishing set of vocal pipes, an unflinching
eye for the human condition; and an unfettered, natural approach
to the recording process. Messrs Redding,
Havens, Waits and Morrison
are all useful compass points when plotting a course for Planet
Vance, and while Foy would acknowledge the gravitational pull
of the aforementioned quartet, he very much exists in his
own universe.
‘Hope’ was recorded in a cottage in the Mourne
Mountains. The recording process was very organic and spontaneous
capturing the live element and the rawness of Foy’s
performance. In his own words: “I’ve
used studios in the past and I’ve always found them
a bit difficult when it comes to really getting into the vibe
so I figured - I’ll just buy the recording gear I need,
hire a cottage, stick a piano in it and record. The whole
idea was NOT TO have a design and let the album produce itself.
Every night we’d get the fire burning, open a bottle
of wine put some mics up and record. A lot of what came out
of that is what the album is”.
Musically it flows like a live session and it brings out
Foy’s soul, blues, gospel and jazz influences soaked
up while growing up in Oklahoma but also from spending time
in Alabama and New Orleans with his preacher father who played
an intrinsic part in the way Foy observes the world. Lyrically,
Foy has an amazing talent for telling great stories in a song,
as is so poignantly displayed in ‘Indiscriminate
Act of Kindness’ and ‘Gabriel
and the Vagabond’. The album
has many highlights including the southern-fried funk of album
opener ‘Be with Me’, the Led
Zeppelin meets Donna Summer groove of ‘Hope,
Peace & Love’ and the rhythm & blues
of ‘Shed a little light’. Heartfelt
songs such as ‘Treading Water’, ‘I
Was Made’ and ‘First of July’
complete an eclectic package of beautifully crafted
songs, which as Foy puts it, ‘I see this album as
small ornaments and trinkets that form the mantelpiece’.
‘Hope’ is a theme that defines
Foy’s life and which is present throughout the album,
whether in a positive or a negative way. ‘I named
the album Hope because that’s something that’s
been hereditary for me. It came from my dad who was eternally
hopeful and every song on the album has an element or is some
sort of study of hope’.
The album was written, performed, recorded, produced and
mixed by Foy himself. Tchad Blake who is
best known for his work with Pearl Jam, Tom
Waits and Elvis Costello has also
contributed to the mixing of some tracks.
Foy Vance will be touring venues around Ireland in support
of the release of ‘Hope’, watch this space.
For more information, please contact
Tara McCormack at Rubyworks –tara@rubyworks.com
Phone : 01 284 1747
Web : www.foyvance.com
Myspace : myspace/foyvance
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