Ah the joy of finding good music and musicians.
There is something refreshing about listening to a newly discovered artist, even if those who are wiser and with better taste have discovered these folks far earlier than I have…. This summer my buddy Thad introduced me to the artist Foy Vance (http://www.foyvance.com/). All I had to hear was his song “Indiscriminate Act of Kindness” from his release “Hope” and I was hooked. In one review from the Belfast Telegraph he is said to be, “The most important solo musician to emerge from Northern Ireland since Van Morrison.”
Ironically I have found no one has heard of him, yet it seems like he should have the same audience as say Mumford and Sons. With a voice that belts out songs as if his life depends on it, his lyrics have a frank quality and are edged in what I can call nothing other than “faith,” his album “Hope” and his newest “Joy of Nothing” are daily on my playlist. Good music helps make a good day….
Below are two songs from his newest album.
Some of his lyrics as of late have been a mantra of sorts for me:
In the recitations of the parish poets
In the buildings, in the burrows, in the lochte boats
I will find my means to an end
With an open heart to hold and a closed hand, full of friends.