This Is Book’s Music

The fact that she’s being pushed as someone in the vein of Dusty Springfield is an interesting one. I do not hear Springfield’s style or charisma in the voice of Sarah Elizabeth Foster, but what they do share is a passion for the song. Gardening From The Ground Up Part One (Studio Sarah) does show an incredible amount of promise for this singer/songwriter musician.

The five songs on this EP are about the internal struggle for peace, love, harmony, and simply being. In “Missing You Now”, her longing for that special someone is the reason she lives:
And I want to sing this song cause I love you
And I want to read you my words cause they’re for you
And you are the one that I dream, I dream of
And I know I’ll be with you somehow, but I’m missing you now

The mood of the EP is almost a bit humdrum and ordinary until track 4, the elegant “Be My Friend Always”. Here, it seems the love she desires has been found, and there’s a bit of vulnerability and openness in her lyrics that I think everyone can appreciate, it’s rawness is honest and genuine:
wash me like a baby
touch me softly til i sleep
whisper everything you love about me
oh be my friend
oh be my friend always

As you hear her in this song, it gets to the listener immediately and you begin to hear her differently. You begin to hear her for more than just the three humdrum songs, and suddenly that magic begins between listener or artist, or at least that magic in your mind which says “wow, now this is someone whose music I can be comfortable in being overwhelmed with.” The mood of “Be My Friend Always” builds until it just comes to an end. When “Let’s Go Away” (the EP’s final track) comes on, it’s a completely different world. It’s as if you’re hearing the journey, the steps, the walking, the anticipation of two people wanting to hide from the rest of the world to celebrate each other. The lyrics are very basic, no hidden agends, it’s Foster simply saying “let’s go away/let’s take a ride anywhere, let’s go/let’s leave everything behind, everything behind”. It is only then that the soulfulness and courage Springfield was known for comes clear, or at least that one thing that made Springfiend a personal favorite for millions of people. You want to bow down and believe.

I think these two songs could have easily been released as a 7″ 45rpm single, the perfect A- side with a complimentary B-side. But by liking these songs a lot, it made me want to re-evaluate the other three tracks. I now had a different perspective on the songs and they started to grow on me. Tracks like “Wake Up” and the title track are just the start of the emotions Foster wants to create, and it takes time to develop the songs towards an overall feeling. It’s not as humdrum as I originally thought, but the pace of the songs are deliberate, reserving all of her energy to make a statement with the last two tracks. I would compare her to the likes of Maria McKee and Sarah McLachlan with a bit of Jewel and Billy Corgan thrown in.

She brings a sense of pop craftsmanship that at times has been sorely lacking in the 00′s, or maybe it hasn’t been used as much What was also a plus is the production, handled by Assaf Spector (who also mixed and engineered the project). As you listen, you feel as if you’re in an intimate club and you’re feeling the music breathe. Respect must also be shown to mastering engineer Adam Ayan, who was able to take this EP and give it a final approval: it’s ready. She’s ready. Begin.

(Gardening From The Ground Up Part One will be released on January 12, 2010.