ISSUE is pleased to present a duo performance by celebrated singer-songwriter Josephine Foster with her husband and collaborator, guitarist Victor Herrero. Esteemed for her timeless and arresting voice, Foster’s rock and folk veiled work has reimagined a disparate spectrum of references, notably German Lieder, children’s music, Tin Pan alley, and the poetry of Emily Dickinson. After relocating to the remote Spanish city of Cádiz, Foster’s attentions turned to the country’s rich musical traditions in two Spanish-language releases with The Victor Herrero Band— Anda Jaleo, a resetting of Garcia Lorca´s songbook (2010) and Perlas (2012). Foster’s most recent solo release, 2012’s Blood Rushing, again features Herrero moving between Spanish, Portuguese and electric guitar, uniting her wide musical influences in a truly singular body of songwriting.
Colorado-born singer and songwriter Josephine Foster began her career at age 15 as a paid funeral and wedding singer, including idiosyncratic gigs like singing folk ballads and operatic hymns in a Rocky Mountain log cabin chapel. Thus began a musical trajectory exploring the gap between ‘lowbrow’ and ‘highbrow’ music. After several years of meandering singing and artistic studies— harp, acting and opera stage direction— she moved to Chicago and there quickly shrugged off the idea of a traditional operatic career. Instead, she returned to her adolescent love of writing songs; revisiting early jazz, blues and folk forms, north indian classical music and others. She adapted her lieder and aria repertoire into simplified and intuitive arrangements, freely breaking classical music taboos.
Whilst working as a freelance singing and music teacher, she was invited to perform her songs in wildly and comically disparate settings, often supported by friends in a handful of duos and trios including: ‘The Supposed’ (with guitarist Brian Goodman and drummer Rusty Peterson); ‘Born Heller’ (with free-jazz bass player Jason Ajemian); ‘The Children’s Hour’ (with songwriter Andy Bar and occasional drummer David Pajo). She has performed around the globe— Australia, Europe, Canada, Israel, Ireland—and has recorded several albums of her original songs with these musicians in addition to other unaccompanied solo work. Her most recent solo release, Blood Rushing (Fire Records, 2012) was chosen among the best albums of 2012 in the WIRE.
Victor Herrero was introduced to music in his childhood while living in the famous monastery Franco erected in a mountain valley west of Madrid (El Valle de los Caídos). There he learned to sing Gregorian and Mozarabic chant under the guidance of Benedictine monks. As a teenager back in his hometown Toledo he formed a psych-rock outfit called ‘Cicely’, which grew into a popular Madrid-based band. The group lasted 8 years, after which Victor recorded and released an album of his solo piano compositions "Connotaciones para Piano" (Sello Autor - SGAE, 2006) under his old stage name “Victor Cicely”. Shortly after this period, Victor met his wife the US artist Josephine Foster. He plays lead guitar on her albums “This Coming Gladness” (Bo’Weavil Recordings, 2008) as well as on her two solo albums; “Blood Rushing” (Fire Records, 2012) and the forthcoming “I´m a Dreamer” (Fire Records, 2013). In May 2013, Herrero released his third solo album, “Estampida”, a collection of original songs written in Spanish, on Foehn Records and Windbell Records Japan.