British songwriter Chloe Foy has announced her debut album: it’s called Where Shall We Begin and arrives on June 11. Foy has been releasing music since the early 2010s, so this comes after a long wait. She’s been through a decade of emotional turmoil, having lost her father to depressing, for which music has been an ideal outlet. Everything comes full circle today as she shares her debut album’s lead single, “Shining Star”, which was inspired in part by her father’s struggle. She says:
“My dad was a talented artist and potter, but instead of following that path, he worked an office job in the pursuit of money which ultimately made him very unhappy. It gave me an early life lesson to follow a creative path if it presents itself and to ignore the pressures of society to conform to a certain life. Because it won’t necessarily make you happy.”
Rather than expressing the sheer beauty to be found in the freeing decision to follow your dreams, Foy has focused on the grim reality of an unfulfilling life and given “Shining Star” a stoic sound to reflect that – and it is all the deeper and more powerful for it. Her voice remains in lower register as she details the daily toils of the man at the centre of her story, her spindly guitar and a rich sweep of elegiac strings giving motion to her graceful overview. She keeps the song simple, weighing up the honour of “a life that pays” while also imagining a message from father to daughter (or vice versa): “you’ll be my shining star.” She needn’t venture much deeper than that, because her lyricism is powerfully effective, especially in combination with the stark instrumentation, leaving us plenty to chew on.
Listen to “Shining Star” on streaming platforms or below.
Chloe Foy’s debut album Where Shall We Begin arrives on June 11 (pre-order/save). Make sure to follow her on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
