Godmother. Josephine Foster

With Godmother Josephine Foster returns to this blog. Her new album touches me easily but it also poses a huge challenge to me. I've been listening for some time now and still I have no idea on what to write. To find the words that constitute my experience. Right now, I only know that I want you to know about Godmother. For now, I've decided to go with the flow of the album and take it from there.

The first thing coming to mind is how surprised I am to be writing about Josephine Foster once again. My introduction to her singing style, in the English folk tradition, as in shrill, high, did not go down well. Like fingernails on a blackboard. Add to that the unsteady wavers in her voice. It made listening to her music impossible for me.

This has changed somehow. On Godmother Josephine Foster, Colorado U.S.A., on the one hand sings in a lower register and far softer. Around her a mystical world is created, moving her music far beyond the classic folk tradition. Musically an electronic world is wrapped all around her voice. It still meanders in its characteristic way, but so much softer and significantly less prominent. It is in the way that the synth sounds move with her, that the mythical element joins her music.

Before folk purists start running for the exit, the album contains intricate guitar playing as well. Take opening song 'Hum Memima'. Foster plays her acoustic, nylon stringed guitar, softly and sings over it just as serenely. In the background however electronics hover, like ghosts in between the walls. There and not there. Its presence is the announcement of things to come.

Promo photo

The electronics give Godmother totally its own atmosphere. Of course, the music fits, as it is played in the right chords and notes. Yet, it is almost as if two worlds are combined here. On the one side a singer-songwriter in the folk segment, playing her guitar, sometimes a bass and light percussion are added and on the other these electronic ghostlike sounds that meander over the whole canvas of a song.

This makes that Godmother offers multiple experiences while listening to it. There are two distinct tracks for the listener of the album to explore. Why pick out 'Guardian Angel'? Simply because it is playing right now. The two worlds are so clear. The melody the synth pursues could be the vocal melody of a Depeche Mode song. Just imagine heavy electronics behind it. Imagination runs wild listening to 'Guardian Angel', a strong song in its own right.

In her own way Josephine Foster has evolved in her music in the same way her Fire Records colleague Jane Weaver has. Allowing more and more electronics into their work. With a totally different outcome, for sure. The comparison is striking though as it results in imaginative and strong work.

For folk purists Godmother may be hard to digest. For everyone with a more open mind it may well be a very surprising album containing not only adventurous but also beautiful songs. Inspiration for me to write struck anyway, as it should be with an inspirational album like Godmother is.

Wout de Natris