A Chat with Stephen Foster (20.08.2022)
Taking the best elements of several genres, Stephen Foster has moulded and crafted them into a unique sound that spreads across the tracks of his album Sharing Perils. With a rich story that has been laced with cinematic flows, acoustic aesthetics and addictive melodies, the album tells individual stories in each track, while taking wonderful sonically unique steps toward a unified whole. Honest, relaxing and companionable, the songs of the album have a delightful personal touch that makes them easy to connect with. We had the chance to chat with Stephen Foster about the album, creative processes, personal musical touches, stories, writing styles and much more!
OSR: You started your musical career playing the trumpet before moving on to other instruments, but did you have a single experience that galvanised your desire to make music?
Foster: My parents were big Beatles fans. When I was in grade school and heard the ‘White Album’ for the first time, that was it. I wanted to make music.
OSR: Earlier this year, you released your debut album Sharing Perils, which is a wonderful mixture of pop, rock and indie folk. While having a little bit of everything, is there a genre that you particularly enjoy?
Foster: Thank you! It’s hard to pick a favourite genre, but near the top of the list would be anything Middle Eastern and South Asian. I don’t have anything like that on the record, the closest I think I got was bringing the sitar into Olam for sort of a “Spaghetti East-Western”.
OSR: What made you decide that now was the right time to release this album?
Foster: I’ve always wanted to release an album, but you know, day job. I finally took the time to compose new (and wrap up some older) songs during the early course of the pandemic. It was magical to be able to spend so much time in a true recording studio. I wasn’t in a hurry and in between my work schedule and being able to focus on music, the whole thing took a couple of years. I took some time with the artwork and then once that was all done, released it.
OSR: The album is really a stunning showcase of your talents, bringing some seriously addictive melodies to storytelling lyrics. What was your creative process for creating the different tracks?
Foster: Thank you so much! Most of the time it starts with a random melody popping into my head; I’ll hum that into my iPhone for keepsake. Then I usually start composing basics with the guitar. Everything else gets added on later, once I feel I have a decent song structure and can step back and think of little things to sprinkle in here and there. Sometimes it’s easy for me to bang out a song quickly and that always surprises me. Like, ‘Después de la Inundación’ came quickly, almost all in one sitting. ‘Desolate Cities’, on the other hand, took quite a bit longer because the song was feeling empty for a while and I knew I wanted more out of it.
OSR: There is a very personal feeling to some of the tracks on the album, is this something that came naturally or did you actively try to achieve it?
Foster: I know it sounds corny, but I just wrote what was coming to me at the time. So yes, a lot of personal meaning for me, but I also like to think a lot is open to the listener’s interpretation.
OSR: Each track on the album tells a different story, but what is the one thing you would like people to take away from listening to the album as a whole?
Foster: That’s a neat question and hard to answer. In hindsight, I think I wanted the album to inspire contemplation about life, especially those situations that come with difficult emotions. In the end, I wanted to leave a sense of hope and that’s why I chose the simple little waltz to be the final track (Slumbertime Waltz).
OSR: While each song is wonderfully unique and holds its own within the album, is there one that you would recommend to people that encompasses the essence of the album?
Foster: That is really kind of you. I would recommend ‘Desolate Cities’ as encompassing the essence of the album because it combines some relatively sad reflections on life, but with an upbeat melody, leaving room for that ever-elusive hope.
OSR: You use a number of different songwriting styles throughout the album, but is there one that you feel most comfortable with?
Foster: I feel most comfortable with the simple acoustic songs where there isn’t much else going on. That said, I have the most fun with the songs that start out simple, but then grow into something bigger, more instruments, cross-melodies, harmonies, etc. It is such a blast to get a song to that point where I start hearing more and more ingredients to be added.
OSR: What was the biggest challenge you faced when making the album?
Foster: That must be making time outside of working hours to focus on the music. I’m pretty introverted, so the challenge of finding the right studio and recording engineer was moderately stressful; I really lucked out with the studio (Compound Recordings in the mountains of Santa Cruz, CA) and the recording engineer/producer/musician (Henry Chadwick).
OSR: Writing this album took some time, but how do you feel about the finished product?
Foster: I go back and forth between loving it and hating it. It’s funny, sometimes I’ll listen to a track or two and think, wow, how cool I was able to make that up. Other times, of course, I just start comparing myself to other musicians/songwriters and that dampens my enthusiasm. One of my biggest pet peeves is listening to a completed track and realizing I could have done more with it, but all in all, I feel lucky as hell I was able to do this.
OSR: Now that your album has been released, what are you currently working on?
Foster: I’m going back to basics and practising a lot of fingerstyle guitar, in the vein of John Fahey, etc. Not that I’ll be writing any delta blues music or anything, but I love the style and hope to get comfortable enough with it that it can find its way into my next batch of tunes.
Thanks to Stephen Foster for chatting with us! You can find more about him on his website and Spotify.
