Boston Indie-folk artist Lindsay Foote has premiered her latest single, "Ready," via American Songwriter. The second track from her upcoming Rollercoaster EP - out January 31st - is a slow-burning folk ballad that builds around Foote's serene vocals with soaring harmonies, bright instrumentation, and gentle percussion. Recorded in Toronto prior to her move to Boston last year, Rollercoaster finds her exploring a hook-friendly pop sound, adding shimmering layers of electric guitar to complement her rich acoustic-folk arrangements.
Listen to Ready below!
"I wrote 'Ready' in a moment of heartbreak," Foote explains. "I had fallen for someone and was disappointed when it didn't work out how I'd envisioned. I initially felt foolish for letting myself get excited. I could have saved myself from all that disappointment! But, in the end, I was glad I had put myself out there, even if it didn't turn out how I hoped."
Foote has made a career of crafting sincere music built around honest lyricism and vibrant arrangements steeped in folk traditions. The Massachusetts-born artist had been writing songs long before entrenching herself in Toronto's diverse music scene, but it was there that she truly came into her own as an artist. During those ten formative years, she released two EPs, became a two-time finalist in the Canadian Songwriting Competition, and completed significant tours through the US and Canada.
As her 2017 EP, Going Gone, received significant attention from the folk circuit, Foote continued to hone her craft by attending various festivals and songwriting retreats with other artists including the Songwriter Serenade in Moravia, Texas. This particular retreat had a lasting impact on Foote and inspired her to go in a more contemporary direction - writing songs with more concise lyrics and stronger hooks. Foote found herself drawn to artists known for augmenting their acoustic-folk sound with electric elements such as Donovan Woods and Henry Jamison.
Eventually, she connected with multi-instrumentalist and producer Joel Schwartz to collaborate on the new EP. "I decided to get a producer to help with this new direction because I felt like I didn't know how to get there on my own," Foote says. "Joel got what I was trying to do and we aligned really well musically. He has a lot of great instincts and helped me explore all these different ideas."
"The Rollercoaster EP is about the transitive time that I've experienced in my life throughout my twenties," Foote shared with American Songwriter. "There have been so many ups and downs. Everything feels up in the air - relationships, jobs, where to live, and just how I want to live my life in general! All that possibility is exciting but it's also scary. Part of me yearns to feel settled. This EP is about the hope, doubt, fear, and disappointment that we experience in these times of searching, these times of figuring things out."
Lindsay Foote will celebrate the Rollercoaster EP with a special release show at Club Passim in Cambridge, MA on January 31st, 2020.
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