Foy Vance - 'Hope' (Wurdamouth) Released 26/05/08

The term singer/songwriter is branded about so easily these days, and with new artists pushing for the limelight its easy to become blasé about yet another new one who comes into our midst. It is also apparent that the way to “make it” past the many new artists is to have a popular television programme, such as The O.C, Scrubs or One Tree Hill, use one of your tracks and suddenly everyone is interested. In this case, Foy Vance was lucky his talents were noticed by Grey’s Anatomy, like others before him, such as Greg Laswell and Cary Brothers. Foy Vance’s push in the right direction, has been very much deserved .

'Hope' is Foy Vance’s beautiful debut album, which is due for re-release this month. The debut album has been a long time coming, having spent the best part of the 1990’s fronting a host of soul and funk bands back in his native Northern Ireland. His style was moulded over the decade and was transformed into traditional and modern folk that is saturated in soul, gospel and blues. He is critically acclaimed in his own right as a live performer , however it took him the best part of 7 years to actually take to the studio to record his album, releasing only singles and EP’s prior to this. 'Hope' is the fruits of his labour and as the title suggests the album is uplifting and optimistic. Vance spent his childhood years travelling the US with his preacher father and the influence of the southern gospel churches holds greatly in the augmentation of 'Hope'.
 
Opening track is 'Be With Me', it has a funky blues melody with smoky gruff vocals, backed with gospel choir. The vocal has hints of Otis Redding mashed together with comparisons to Ryan Adams and Bonnie 'Prince' Billy. The track sets the scene for a feel good album that at times is beautifully understated. 'Shed A Little Light' takes the shape of modern gospel hymn. “…Shed a little light so I can find you/Don’t let darkness hide you from my face/Shed a little light so I can find you/I’d surely die for your embrace…” sounding vocally like his main influence Van Morrison, the range that Vance has control of is an instrument in its own right. With soulful guitar and tinkering piano the song would sound very at home in Southern gospel church. “Gabriel and Vagabond”, the track used in Grey’s Anatomy, has some of his most heartfelt and touching lyrics about the homeless. The song is a lovely back to basics folk tune. With acoustic guitars and piano, and once again sounds like Ryan Adams alt country vocals. “… See, they just think he's gonna take their money/And go and spend it all on dope/Then a man stopped by him and I saw a smile inside him/As he gently whispered hope…” 
 
'Indiscriminate Act of Kindness' was played over the back of a commercial for a charity related to Great Ormond Street Children’s hospital and is a highlight of the album with tales of kindness from a stranger on a homeless drug addict. It bears resemblance to the nativity story and looks heavily at the less attractive side of charity. It has Vance’s greatest vocal which has been aided by acoustic guitars and allows you to see him at his visceral best. With bluesy saxophone 'Pull Me Through' is a romantic track, his smoky vocals sing “…You picked me up with your hands/And made me feel like a man/It’s simple but oh so true/And all this when I met you…”. Finishing this collection of songs is a secret track with a recording of his little daughter Ella singing “You Are My Sunshine” along to Daddy’s piano.
 
'Hope' has sense of story telling and Vance opts to tell tales of real life rather than the usual romantic slushy songs that singer/songwriters are renowned for. The vocals are strong throughout and although instrumentation is often basic it is very effective. Sounding like he hails from South Carolina rather than County Down, the album holds the essence of Americana folk and gospel which allows Vance to stand out from the crowd of singer/songwriters we see around today.