Anyone who thinks the music business is by definition a young man’s pursuit needs to meet Gideon Foster. Having come to the singer-songwriter game in his mid-40s, the Halifax, UK-based artist is now 54 and sharing the sort of becalmed wisdom only age can provide on his latest single, “Outside Looking In.”
Landing with an audibly self-assured grace, the song is a meditation in both content and sound. Symphonic key swells, jangly guitar arpeggios and a shuffling, neo-trap drum beat snake in and out under Foster’s whispery, reverberating vocals as he gently gets his point across. That point? That at the end of the day, “out of the loop” isn’t such a bad place to be if you’re at peace with yourself.
But I’m not playing this game I’m just staring in windows Outside looking in
How long things stay the same
I’m holding all the aces
Outside looking in
Epiphanies have a way of coming to Foster, who says he started writing songs at 46 as part of a spiritual awakening that put him on an entirely new life path. While there had always been music in his background, he hadn’t been serious about it until one day when, almost on a whim, he picked up a guitar that had been lying around the house for years. The original tunes that tumbled out kept coming until he found himself quitting his corporate gig and pursuing his new passion full-time.
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Now, six years later, he has a bunch of singles, an EP and an album (2023’s Prophecy) under his belt, with another full-lengther in the works. “Outside Looking In” is a preview of what that forthcoming opus might sound like – not an easy prediction to make with this particular artist, who says he doesn’t like to tie himself to “any particular genre, style or influence” – and just as important, what it will have to say about Foster and how he sees the world.
“I think there is too much focus on everything having to be clear cut, black and white,” he says. “But life really isn’t like that. The truth is largely subjective. (It) may be just my age, but I prefer nuance.”
