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LP
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FTR 616LP
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"Vinylization of a tour CDR, Josephine recorded at home around the time of A Wolf in Sheep's Clothing (2006). Accompanying herself on guitar and piano, with some drum and vocal help from Brian Goodman, the album is a glorious once-lost-now-found piece of the fascinating musical puzzle that is the music of Josephine Foster. While Foster's music is clearly consonant with the current trends in avant-völk music (here, especially, on her wild readings from the Tibetan Book of Dzyan), another large portion of her muse seems rooted in the parlor music tradition that predates recorded sound. At times, when she is playing piano and singing, you can almost imagine she's channeling the spirit of a long-gone frontier maiden, belting out her soul's truths on an old upright piano in a dusty living room. It feels like an improvised soundtrack to Michael Lesy's Wisconsin Death Trip (1973). But the work presented on this album is neither static nor easily categorized. Josephine follows her muse wherever it goes, and (like her) it is peripatetic as all get-out. From free rock slugfests, to tunes that float with the easy clarity of hymns, What Is It That Ever Was? offers a peek into the private creative process of one of this generation's great original voices. Don't be shy." --Byron Coley, 2021
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CD
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WEAVIL 031CD
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This is Colorado-based Josephine Foster's (Born Heller, The Supposed) debut release for Bo Weavil Recordings, and her third full-length album. This Coming Gladness is the highly-awaited follow-up to 2006's A Wolf In Sheep's Clothing on Locust. This Coming Gladness is transcendental fin de siècle songs from one of the great unsung voices and songwriters of our modern times. Josephine Foster unites rarely united royal realms: self-penned operatic art songs cast in freely-rendered blues with electric guitars and drums beating the path along with harp and piano flourishes. She has a voice that was trained for opera, but creaks like ancient mountain folk floating out from a dusty Victrola. She surpasses any "weird-folk" labelling through the sheer timelessness of her songcraft -- making baroque balladry sound new yet remembered from some not-too distant shared American past. Joining her on this recording is electric guitarist Victor Herrero and drummer Alex Nielson.
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