A Line Drawn in Concrete, and the other two about his mother dying in 2012. Three of his other songs were written for documentaries: the theme to The Staircase, "The Lost Battalion", and "The House at the End of Hope Street". Foster stated that "For years, I had a series of song-ideas that never really found their way into lyrics or songs. As they had been around for a long time, I felt that I was never going to make them. Then, one day last year in New York, I recorded them as a kind of tribute." For the release of The Lost Battalion song, Foster also wrote a new song with The National's Aaron Dessner titled "Where Did You Go". This is the first song he has ever co-written and was played live by the band at Radio City Music Hall with special guests. The first single from the album, "The Cold Wind Blows", features "Bells", a poem written by Foster's mother, and was described as "a love song to a childhood place" in Pitchfork. A documentary about singer John Legend and his then wife Ciara, Love & Politics, is based on Foster's Love & Disappear, and is also called Love & Disappear. Critical reception The album received highly positive reviews from critics and has a score of 84 out of 100 on Metacritic. Mojo described it as Foster's "most intimate album yet, featuring piano and guitar, string arrangements and a hushed air of tragedy... The result is an album of astonishing intimacy: a reflection of the power of words on a track that will haunt you." The Independent described the album as "a record of such devastating beauty that it should probably be labelled as a therapeutic remedy" and went on to call it "a heartbreaking work, an elegy for childhood love and loss, for the end of life as you know it." The Quietus wrote "The songs are intimate and delicate, with an attention to detail that is unusual for someone of his stature, and a softness that can only come from such a deep pool of sadness, without any cynicism or irony," while comparing the album with Philip Glass's Koyaanisqatsi. Upon the release of the album, it appeared on the lists of the Best Albums of the Year by Pitchfork and The Guardian, and on the Best Albums of 2017 lists of NPR, NME and PopMatters. Track listing Personnel Will Oldham – vocals, guitar, piano Ted Pecchio – drums Sam Gendel – percussion Kristian Matsson – violin Jon Natchez – cello Aaron Dessner – piano on "Where Did You Go" Scott McCaughey – guitar on "Where Did You Go" Sharon Van Etten – vocals on "Ghost of Love" Katie Moore – vocals on "All Your Ghosts" Jarvis Cocker – vocals on "Johnny Remember Me" Aaron Dessner – guitar, acoustic guitar on "Where Did You Go", piano on "Ghost of Love" and "Johnny Remember Me", bass guitar on "Ghost of Love" Steve Moore – trumpet on "Johnny Remember Me" Production Will Oldham – production, recording, mixing, mastering Michael Gira – production, mixing, recording, mastering, recording engineering Todd Burke – recording engineering John Congleton – recording engineering David Longstreth – production, mixing, mastering Erin Manning – mixing assistant Jon Natchez – co-production, mixing Dave O'Donnell – mixing Jonathon Rado – recording assistant Jon Shaw – recording assistant Ryan Hewitt – recording assistant Nick Sweeney – recording assistant Jonathon Weisburg – mastering Charts References Category:2017 albums Category:Will Oldham albums Category:Drag City (record label) albums Category:Albums produced by John Congleton Category:Collaborative albums Category:The National (band) albums Category:Split EPs