Marcus Foster – The Last House EP

Often the amalgamation of artistic vision and music doesn’t work. The music is too ambitious for the singer or alternatively the singer is restricted by the music, the genre or just what is currently in vogue. Fortunately for Marcus Foster he does not suffer with this affliction. The marriage of soul music and his gravelly emotive voice is a lasting one; perfect synchronicity of sound and style. His latest EP The Last House is a six song example of this.

The EP feels very bucolic, country sensibilities within the instrumentation with solid string accompaniment to complete the songs. This is very much present on In This Town. Foster’s strength definitely lays in his vocal delivery. It is raw and natural and you can almost hear the saliva rolling round his mouth as he sings. His voice gives his music credibility – which it neither needs nor seeks. Still, four tracks in and the mood of the album takes a dramatic turn; Strange Woods is loud, aggressive and intense – not really fitting with the theme Foster had presented with his first three songs. Due to the instant spike in the mood you are left feeling a little unsettled.

The Last House EP is a beautiful selection of songs but one cannot help but feel that it is a collection of songs for the sake of releasing an EP. There isn’t one track in particular that grabs your attention unlike Foster’s previous single release I Was Broken which has intensity, passion, romance and for want of a better turn of phrase, something special about it. The Last House EP is good but generally fails to say anything.

marcusfostermusic.co.uk