Album Reviews

Chloe Foy – Where Will We Begin – Album Review

The “debut” album from Chloe Foy, Where Shall We Begin, is a collection of new and old songs.  Having previously only released EPs, including the Callous Copper, a collection of songs with a string quartet, Where Shall We Begin builds on these and gifts us with a beautiful full-length release.

The album rather aptly starts with Where Shall We Begin – a song which brilliantly encapsulates Chloe Foy.  Showcasing Chloe’s voice, her deep and meaningful lyrics, and the great use of strings – even more evident since she has started working with Harry Fausing Smith.  Next up, Deserve contains some great harmonies and whilst Chloe’s vocals are quite simple, they work beautifully with the instrumentation.

The third song on the album – Work Of Art – is one of two poppy tracks on the album, with a retro feel to it that could be ‘90s, but the influences in this song are quite diverse and hard to pin down.  Evangeline will be familiar to anyone who has seen Chloe live, but there’s a slightly different arrangement to this version which provides a freshness to it.

Asylum– released as a single in 2018 – would be a great song to waltz to.  Maybe someone should suggest it to Strictly?  The arrangement has many layers to it, and this holds your attention.  Bones and And It Goes are the darkest songs on the album, with the latter using a Rhodes to provide a great, fuller sound.  Shining Star shows that you don’t need to add bells and whistles to make a song work, and Left-Centred Weight – the other poppy song on the record – helps to showcase Chloe’s talents well.

The record ends with one of the best songs on the album –Square Face – the lyrics are dark yet help to show you you’re not alone.  

Along with Square Face, the top tracks on the album are Deserve and Work Of Art.  This is an album that demands your attention, the lyrics want to be heard and there are instruments used that will send you to the packaging to identify,  Whilst on the darker side lyric-wise, it has a fresh sound that you can see being played over a teenager laying on grass on a sunny day in some film or other, and makes you want to do the same.  

If you enjoy your music on the sadder side, like it a bit folky, or you’re just interested in checking out a talented English singer/songwriter with a lovely voice, this could be the album for you.

Where Shall We Begin is released on 11 June 2021, with physical copies available from https://chloefoymusic.bandcamp.com/.

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