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Album Review – Marcus Foster Nameless Path
Posted by musiccleanslate on September 3, 2011
It’s not every artist that can get internationally recognised movie stars to appear in their music videos, let alone before they have even released an album. Marcus Foster happens to be one such artist that apparently can. Star of the horrid tween movies Twilight and of the more acceptable Adventureland, Kristen Stewart takes her bow in Marcus’ new video for forthcoming single ‘I Was Broken’. The ability to have this kind of draw is intriguing to say the least, and it’s backed up on listening to Foster’s debut album ‘Nameless Path‘ released 26th September on Infected/Polydor.
First Impressions are this is a singer full of soul, with a beautiful gravelly blues twang to his voice. The album spans several musical styles from Blues, Country, Folk, Soul to a more contemporary sound, but manages to hold it all together with panache rather than sounding like a mish-mash attempt to please too many people. Opening track ‘Old Birch Tree’ is a confident affair that feels more like an old friend than a new song by a new artist. It is the gateway to what is probably the best answer to Adele’s stunning ’21′ by a male solo singer this year. Foster’s voice has a beautiful warmth and also effortless power when needed, which is demonstrated perfectly on tracks like ‘I Don’t Need to Know’ and ‘Movement’. With an Autumn release I can see this album being played in front of many a log fire over the coming months. It might not take as long as one might think for Foster to become as familiar to people as his female counterpart also from London has managed in the past year. An album full of great tracks waiting to be discovered, an incredibly mature offering for a 24-year-old. Many have made comparisons to the great Van Morrison’s Astral Weeks with this album, and that is heavenly company indeed, while I wouldn’t place it there just yet it is stunning.
Rating: 4.5/5
Stand out track: Old Birch Tree
For fans of: Counting Crows, Adele, Amos Lee, Van Morrison, Lenny Kravitz
Track List:
01. Old Birch Tree (3:01)
02. Shadows Of The City (4:04)
03. Faint Stir Of Madness (3:14)
04. You My Love (3:38)
05. The Room (4:38)
06. I Was Broken (3:59)
07. I Don’t Need To Lose You To Know (3:56)
08. Rushes & Reeds (2:57)
09. I Belong Here (4:38)
10. I Don’t Mind (4:33)
11. Movement (4:54)
12. Memory Of Your Arms (9:15)
13. Nameless Path (Bonus iTunes Track) (4:40) |
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