took us all of thirty seconds listening to fall for the soulful-voiced foy vance , which is fitting since, as the man himself sings, "it doesn't take a whole day to recognize sunshine." though he grew up in oklahoma, vance now calls belfast home, and his debut record, hope , off of which comes "doesn't take a whole day," was recorded in a cottage in the mountains of northern ireland - or what we might call the romantic ideal. here's the ballad that first hooked us:

foy vance - doesn't take a whole day


and, to change the tempo a bit, here's the opening song from hope , which swaps in a line of funk to underscore vance's vocals. doesn't spin our wheels in quite the same way as "doesn't take a whole day," but still fine:

foy vance - be with me


if you'd like to hear more by foy vance, you can stream additional songs here , or pick up a copy of hope here , or watch a video of vance performing "gabriel and the vagabond" live, in which he sounds a bit like a less nasal ray lamontagne.