Foy Vance at Assembly Hall, Islington

Usual tags such as ‘singer-songwriter’, ‘folk-soul’, ‘troubadour’ are perceived with a considerable amount of cynicism these days, especially since the music scene has been saturated with middle of the road artists, marketed as such by traditional record label formulae. Leaving tags aside, Foy Vance operates in his own parallel universe, operating well away from industry standards. You’ll hear echoes of Otis Redding, Richie Havens, Tom Waits and Van Morrison in his music. You’ll hear soul, blues, gospel and jazz influences soaked up while growing up in Oklahoma and from spending time in Alabama and New Orleans with his preacher father who played an intrinsic part in the way he observes the world. On debut album ‘Hope’ you’ll hear the southern-fried funk of opener ‘Be with Me’, the Led Zeppelin meets Donna Summer groove of ‘Hope, Peace & Love’ and the rhythm & blues of ‘Shed a little light’. Ultimately, what you’ll hear is pretty unique.