That’s All We Are
“Jeffrey Dean Foster’s That’s All We Are began as film soundtrack commission but it’s always reductive to view such work as totally clinical, and no matter the seeming objectivity, circumstance and environment invariably bleed into process. With time these little sequences, ethereal translucent vignettes, took on an (after)life of their own.
Composed and initially recorded for Angus Machlachlan’s 2017 movie Abundant Acreage Available in a time of transition and downsizing, they were created in a tiny space with the minutiae of life carrying on quite literally around him while he dug into memory and reflection. For patterns or exemplars he fetched up Neil Young’s After the Gold Rush – in its spawning out of Dean Stockwell’s film script, Jack Nitzsche’s One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest soundtrack, and Cliff Martinez’s work on The Knick.
Save for one shiny pop song briefly calling back his pair of career-defining solo albums Million Star Hotel and The Arrow it’s almost entirely a set of instrumentals. Often skeletal cinematic conjurings, where ghosts of screen or sound meet, they hint at both internal and external phenomena and seem connected to the already released ‘I’m Starting To Bleed’ written and recorded in response to the murder of George Floyd. Additionally it’s not that great a leap to discern elements of library music, the Ghost Box cohort, and even something of The Caretaker in the recurring motif of a Stephen Foster melody.”
I'm Starting to Bleed
“Jeffrey Dean Foster is a rugged individualist whose music speaks to the soul and comes from the heart. He’s got a knack for crafting emphatic songs with emotion and steadfast tenacity. It’s a riveting work, and in spite of its brevity, it rings with a rugged resilience that drives the emotions to full flourish. Recorded in lockdown, Foster plays practically all the instruments with production and engineering assistance from Don Dixon and Mitch Easter, among others. So too, with its steady stream of unrepentant rockers, it’s a sturdy reminder of the wealth of reasons why Foster is so deserving of wider recognition. ”
“Uplifting, cinematic… though Foster’s expressive, robust voice still recalls Tom Petty, his earlier Americana leanings are abandoned. Tell Somebody” (with its “Pinball Wizard” intro) is loud and fuzzy, Big Star/Raspberries/Posies power pop, and “Headin’ Home” is a zesty, chugging, Flamin’ Groovies-meets-Lyres garage rocker
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“Jeffrey Dean Foster’s latest EP is power pop with a pointed edge. The musical hooks are there, for sure, but the lyrics confront the social injustice and unrest that continues to roil the country.”
The Arrow
“The Arrow, a near masterpiece on virtually every level. This is the kind of album that will stop you in your tracks.”
“5 Stars: There have even been moments when it’s literally taken my breath away.”
“Just listen to The Arrow. If the target Foster is aiming at is your heart? Bullseye! Foster’s new album is so full of strong yet winsome melodies, catchy hooks and vocals that like being smart, it will soon be cool to cop to the fact that you like tuneful Rock. ”
Million Star Hotel
“Million Star Hotel is like a multi-faced diamond reflecting light into a hall of mirrors. A classic pop album from North Carolina that unashamedly mines past glories. Made by someone whose teenage years were spent in the 70s in cars with radios. You hear late Beach Boys, Neil Young, Bolan, and of a time when music and romance were inextricably mingled. Yet every second of this remarkable album cries out to be listened to. Everything here does its part; these songs will never let the careful listener down. Always they’ll inspire, and always they’ll reward.”
The Pinetops “Above Ground and Vertical”
“The Pinetops “Above Ground and Vertical” Most of the Don Dixon-produced Above Ground And Vertical is as lean and graceful as a shortstop, but the twin guitars are ready to rear up when called upon, as in “Underneath Your Wheels” and the marvelous, True Believers-ish “Jesus Spoke To Me”. In general, the Pinetops fall between Neil Young (“Shotgun Baby” is loud Neil, while the piano-coaxed “Hello Down There” is mostly “After The Gold Rush” quiet) and Tom Petty at his Stonesiest. And, yes, that could make them Chuck Prophet’s slightly younger brothers. ”
““Above Ground And Vertical” is clearly the best CD of 1999 so far. Consistently good songs, no slips My expectations were high, but what I saw was more than I had hoped for. Take the best of the bands mentioned above (True Believers, Neil Young, Tom Petty, Chuck Prophet), add what Whiskeytown might sound like if they would just get their act together and you get - The Pinetops. They blew me away. Everything was perfect about this set. Wow!”
“ Above Ground and Vertical is the debut from songwriter Jeffrey Dean Foster and The Pinetops, and is the perfect example of a record made to live for […] All the stars line up: the voice melts into the songs; three chords with loosely phrased, real life words make beautiful tunes; the instruments tinker with just enough country and distorted twang; it makes you wish you were on stage playing music that means something.”
The Leaves Turn Upside Down
“Foster has done some very interesting, un-unplugged things with the leaves turn upside down. Mostly recorded live, Foster has taken the recording in seemingly contrary directions but has ended up with a disc that is quite unified and more than a bit conceptually daring […] Foster has interposed found sounds that give the disc an Andy-Warhol-goes-techno/acoustic-in-the-predawn-hours feel that is quite ingenious.”
