Jeffrey Foucault
Horse Latitudes
Review By Steven Stone

  Jeffrey Foucault has a rock and roll voice in a folkie's body. His vocal instrument sounds like a cross between Spider John Koerner and Willis Allan Ramsey with a pinch of Marc Cohen thrown in. It is a voice that resonates inside your chest. On his latest album Foucault presents listeners with ample opportunity to enjoy the full scope of his vocal, instrumental, and songwriting prowess.

Jeffery Foucault has been playing the "folk circuit" and regularly releasing albums for the past 12 years. When I reviewed his 2006 album, Ghost Repeater, I wrote, "Jeffrey Foucault reminds me of a 21^st century Pete Seeger who can combine contemporary internal and external issues with traditional influences." On Horse Latitudes Foucault expands his musical legacy with ten more original songs that occupy the spaces between heartbreak and memory. The opening title cut has a languorous floating quality to the rhythm that sways slowly like a hammock on a ship in a lazy cove.

The whole album was made in only three days of recording at Stampede Origin in Los Angeles. The band included Van Dyke Parks (yes THE Van Dyke Parks) on keyboards, Jennifer Condos on electric bass, Eric Heywood on pedal steel, baritone, and electric guitars, Billy Conway on drums, Kris Delmhorst on cello and vocals, and Jeffrey Foucault on acoustic guitar and lead vocals. Engineered and mixed principally by Ryan Freeland and mastered by Alex McClough at Yes Master, Nashville, TN, this CD sounds like money. By that I mean it has a certain lushness, bigness, and overall clarity that I rarely hear from home-studio projects. Often I found it hard to concentrate on the lyrics because of the sheer magnificence of the sound. Yes, most of the songs are sad, but the overall album is so darn beautiful you won't mind.

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