Marcus Foster
Marcus Foster has soul. No, not that superficial junk that is sometimes played off as soul today, but that true guttural, passionate soul. Only a few artists are capable of creating this sound today (i.e. Ray LaMontagne) and Foster’s powerful crooning makes the 24-year-old London musician a part of this exclusive club.
Foster has released one EP thus far in his burgeoning career. The link embedded in EP brings you to a page where you can purchase the four-song release in full or individually. If folk singer/songwriters are your thing, then give Marcus Foster a listen.
“Shadows of the City” is the first track on Foster’s EP Tumble Down. The song’s introduction features Foster’s robust voice demonstrating its impeccable range. The main draw for every singer/songwriter is their voice. When it comes down to it, only those with great, original voices survive in the cutthroat world of singer/songwriters. There are far to many creating similar tunes for everyone to succeed. A singer/songwriter is judged on their voice first and then their music. Foster easily passes the voice test. It is his clear strength. His voice is vigorous, but trained. Foster knows when to unleash it to its full potential. At the end of “Shadows of the City,” a melancholic percussion-driven piece with pleasant acoustic rhythms, Foster impressively displays a controlled scream that is shocking, but interestingly refreshing.
With the above acoustic home recording of the EP’s title track “Tumble Down,” I wanted to express Foster’s folk roots. He is clearly most comfortable in stripped down string-heavy folk recordings. The song is over six minutes, but it does not lose its charm. The additional acoustic instrumentation is nice, but I even feel that the song would succeed with only Foster and his acoustic guitar.
Soon, Foster will release his first full-length LP and if you like what you listened to on this post feel free to click this and pre-order his album Nameless Path.
The Music Court 
Marcus Foster is truly a gem. I’ve been listening to him for a little over a year now. His self-titled EP has two outstanding songs, the uber-cool “Kiss is a Knife” and the beautiful “14 Times.” However, his soulful voice really came out on a song he did for the Communion compilation album, “Circle in the Square.” Whoa, talk about some seriously haunting vocals!
On a recent trip to London, I got my hands on “Tumble Down” and I have to agree that it’s fantastic collection of songs. Although, like you, I tend to like Foster best when it’s just him and his guitar. His voice is so powerful, there isn’t a need for a lot of production.
Thanks for highlighting this wonderful artist!
Yeah. It is rare to hear such a passionate artist that can muster up such controlled power in his voice. It is great to be able to highlight awesome artists like Foster.