“Soaring levels of poignancy reminiscent of luminaries Laura Marling and The Staves” Line of Best Fit
“Chloe Foy places each note in exactly the right position” Clash Magazine
“Foy sweeps into view and brings brightness with every note” Beats Per Minute
New album ‘Where Shall We Begin’ closes the chapter on a formative period for the Gloucestershire-via-Manchester songwriter. After losing her father to depression, Foy embarked on a ten-year-period where she followed her career path tirelessly whilst also dealing with the internal and external fallout from losing an influential figure so young.
Foy first started to attract attention as far back as 2013 when her debut single ‘In The Middle of the Night’ was picked up by BBC Radio 6 and Radio 2. Follow-up singles, ‘Flaws’ and ‘Asylum’, brought huge streaming success – the latter is approaching 8.5 millon Spotify plays – and festival appearances followed soon after – SXSW in 2018, Greenman and Cambridge Folk Festival in 2019.
‘Where Shall We Begin’ is the sound of someone who has spent years working away, content to only unleash their first full body of work when they, as an artist, were at their most complete.
“For me, this album has come out of a decade of hard graft, trying to balance my craft with making a living, whilst taking my time to get it right. All whilst dealing with the fallout of a huge bereavement in my most formative years. I was finding it hard to work out who I was within this new, alien context of losing a parent,” explains Foy.
Inspired by songwriters like Gillian Welch, Edith Piaf and Tyler Ramsay, and producers like Blake Mills and John Congleton, the resulting album revolves around Foy’s spinetingling, pure vocals and her near perfect songwriting. Expect the melodies to lodge in your head for days. Recorded at Pinhole Studios in Manchester, an army of musical collaborators dropped by to lend their embellishments to Foy’s patchwork; viola and harp contributions taking the work to a whole new level. Foy co-produced the record alongside musical collaborator, Harry Fausing Smith, who is also responsible for the string arrangements.
The songs themselves are both incredibly empathetic and self-compassionate. ‘And It Goes’ is about how her mother’s love remained unfaltering even as she came to terms with the loss of her soulmate, while stand-out ‘Work of Art’ is about the warmth created for both songwriter and audience when a community of music lovers come together to spend their evening lost in song.
It all adds to make up for a soothing and incredibly vulnerable listen. An album that could both rock a baby to sleep, and, at the opposite end of the spectrum, inspire deep self-excavation and existential analysis. The kind of album that doesn’t come around very often.
“These songs are my most inner and deepest secrets. The kind of things I only express to those closest to me, but for some reason in song, I can be open with the world.”
With tickets on sale now, Foy has the following dates still to play at the following venues:
UK Tour Dates – October 2021
October 13th – Gullivers, Manchester
October 14th – Paper Dress Vintage, London
October 15th – Pound Arts Centre, Corsham
October 16th – Town Hall, Trowbridge
October 17th – The Jericho Tavern,
Oxford October 19th – Tunbridge Wells Forum, Royal Tunbridge Wells
October 20th – The Prince Albert, Brighton
October 21st – The Boileroom, Guildford
Tickets on sale at: https://www.chloefoy.com/live
