With a voice that sounds like a veteran of several bar wars, you will either find this Tom Waits wannabe enchanting or hilarious
Hometown: London.
The lineup: Marcus Foster (vocals, guitar).
The background: We've just been interviewing an artist whose music suggests a young, black Jeffrey Dahmer trapped in a charnel house with Dr Dre and DJ Screw, which as you can imagine was always going to be a pretty hard act to follow. But we're going to at least try to sustain the mood of grisly pleasure, tomorrow anyway, with one of Tyler, the Creator's favourite new musicians, James Pants.
Today, meanwhile, as something of a respite we present a gentleman, 24 years young, with the voice of a weathered veteran of several bar wars. We've been told that he is "honest" (unlike all the other musicians around, who lie constantly) and "real" (compared to his peers, who are made out of polymers) and that there is "no one quite like him today". The operative word here is "quite". Marcus Foster ? who has an MA in sculpture, has been mates since school with Robert Pattinson and had his music used on the Twilight soundtrack, though the last two facts are possibly unconnected ? is by no means the only boy with a guitar touting his trade right now. Indeed, there are male singer-songwriters aplenty ? Ed Sheeran, Ben Howard, Michael Kiwanuka, Marques Toliver, Maverick Sabre ? though admittedly there are differences in scenes (Sheeran with one foot in dubstep, Howard from the Mumfords/Communion stable) and gradations of soulfulness. Foster is soulful. He's probably too bleedin' soulful, rasping like it's going out of fashion, which it did the minute Rod Stewart made his Atlantic Crossing.
Still, if you're a fan of Tom Waits, which Foster is and has been since he was a teenager singing the folky-blues in dives across London, you'll want to hear his new Tumble Down EP and forthcoming album, Nameless Path. On the EP's lead track, Shadows of the City, he gives good eerie silence, and uses his voice sparingly over silvery and tremulous guitar. By the end, he comes over all Tim Buckley circa Starsailor and starts scatting wildly, perhaps emboldened by Ben Howard who does something similar on his EP. On the title track he croaks as though to telegraph his manly sensitivity and intimacy with the notion of heartfelt expression. Towards the end he becomes rapt, lost in music, singing high and free as he goes into the mystic. You will either find it enchanting or hilarious. We're saying nothing.
The buzz: "Fosters voice shows that the influences have come straight from Van Morrison and Dylan" ? flyingwithanna.wordpress.com.
The truth: It's the Twilight of the Rods. Or something.
Most likely to: Make that Atlantic Crossing ? he's already had a bazillion MySpace hits.
Least likely to: Wear pink satin loon pants.
What to buy: Tumble Down is out now. Nameless Path is released on 13 June by Communion/Geffen.
File next to: Ben Howard, Starsailor, Rod Stewart, Richard Ashcroft.
Links: myspace.com/marcusfoster.
Wednesday's new band: James Pants.
Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2011/may/03/new-band-marcus-foster
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