Matt Foster is in no rush. On "Hospital," a particularly muted track planted delicately in the middle of their stunning debut solo album True Needs, their lyrics and cadence flow by like the soft trickle of a creek. "I've got some land that you could die on / The field, the forest, your face in the breeze." The song tackles death and mortality in quite a profound way, but when Foster innocently rhymes "hospital" with "smoshpital," it catches you off guard, makes you think, and it becomes clear that patience and sparing reflections (plus a bit of humour) are how Foster makes sense of life's most challenging moments.
This album marks quite the turn for Foster. Previously a member of the now-dissolved Crooked Brothers, a band that delighted in the bravado of the early 2010s roots revival, True Needs sees Foster cutting away all the musical excess in exchange for something that can only come from a 15-plus year career spent largely on the road — something intimate, reflective, and confidential.
Atmosphere is as important as anything on True Needs. The self-produced album is meditative, hushed, natural, and filled with space. The acoustic guitar is primary in the mix, nestled next to Foster's whispering delivery. Most backing instrumentation is sparse, letting the subtleties of pure vibration do the work. This is something Foster delights in, particularly on the instrumental track "Dream." Breaking through the looping guitar chord progressions, we hear a haunting voice echoing through the haze, warning, "Careful." The song eventually crescendos with a cyclone of air breezing through the tape. It's a pensive track that shows Foster's success in capturing tranquility.
The songs on True Needs are not so much a collection of singer-songwriter folk songs as they are connotative reflections on destiny and posterity. "Don't lie about your dreams if you can't tell the truth / Keep it to yourself like a seed underneath the soil with everything it needs," sings Foster on the standout track "Don't Lie About Your Dreams." As Foster guides the song's character towards enlightenment, the arresting artistry on display becomes quite emotionally profound — it's hard not to stop what you're doing and just listen.
There is a great deal of searching, guilt, and longing found within True Needs. It meanders through the emotional crags of Foster's mind, and although it's an album of hushed intonations, the raw vulnerability throughout True Needs is moving in seismic proportions.
(Fun & Nice )This album marks quite the turn for Foster. Previously a member of the now-dissolved Crooked Brothers, a band that delighted in the bravado of the early 2010s roots revival, True Needs sees Foster cutting away all the musical excess in exchange for something that can only come from a 15-plus year career spent largely on the road — something intimate, reflective, and confidential.
Atmosphere is as important as anything on True Needs. The self-produced album is meditative, hushed, natural, and filled with space. The acoustic guitar is primary in the mix, nestled next to Foster's whispering delivery. Most backing instrumentation is sparse, letting the subtleties of pure vibration do the work. This is something Foster delights in, particularly on the instrumental track "Dream." Breaking through the looping guitar chord progressions, we hear a haunting voice echoing through the haze, warning, "Careful." The song eventually crescendos with a cyclone of air breezing through the tape. It's a pensive track that shows Foster's success in capturing tranquility.
The songs on True Needs are not so much a collection of singer-songwriter folk songs as they are connotative reflections on destiny and posterity. "Don't lie about your dreams if you can't tell the truth / Keep it to yourself like a seed underneath the soil with everything it needs," sings Foster on the standout track "Don't Lie About Your Dreams." As Foster guides the song's character towards enlightenment, the arresting artistry on display becomes quite emotionally profound — it's hard not to stop what you're doing and just listen.
There is a great deal of searching, guilt, and longing found within True Needs. It meanders through the emotional crags of Foster's mind, and although it's an album of hushed intonations, the raw vulnerability throughout True Needs is moving in seismic proportions.