The Hotel Cafe in Hollywood recently welcomed back another English singer-songwriter on the rise, Marcus Foster, for a sold-out early show.

Visibly nervous but still charmingly self-effacing, the lanky Foster ran through songs from his fine self-titled indie CD to a predominantly female crowd.   Yes, it’s another Twilight soundtrack connection, as Foster co-wrote ““Let Me Sign” with fellow Brit artist Bobby Long, which was recorded by their friend and now mega-movie star of the moment, Rob Pattinson.  Both Pattinson and Long were in the house to support their friend (more about that later).

Foster’s songs, played on acoustic guitar and piano, are probing, loaded with raw nerve endings, often with melancholy coloring and bittersweet tones as in “Fourteen Times.”  But there’s always hope eeking out, as in “I Don’t Mind” and in the rebirth theme of “I Was Broken.”

The music is definitely contemporary alt-folk with a definite nod to Tom Waits (who he’s been known to cover) at times too, though you could also trace lineage of his confessionals and, at times, wry lyricism to Phil Ochs.  As with his friend Long, who played the club a week earlier, a small band could flesh out the material to a greater degree, and perhaps he’ll come back and play that way next time.

Check him out at his MySpace page and this British site.

As it turns out, after the performance, Pattinson and Long hooked up with Foster only to be assaulted by paparazzi to the point of the Twlight series star trying to bury his capped head against a wall.  Can’t a guy have a night out with his not-as-famous pals? I guess not. Note to photo hounds:  One day, a non-celebrity friend of a star is going to lose it and give a bunch of you enemas with your lenses, and guess what?  You bottom-feeder scum deserve it.