INTERVIEW: Alex Henry Foster Talks (And Premieres) New Single “Summertime Departures”

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1-Hi Alex, welcome to VENTS! How have you been?

Thank you so much, it’s a real privilege for me to make my first appearance on Vents! It’s always refreshing to be invited and to contribute to a media outlet that cultivates a defying approach to life and art… So it feels pretty good actually, no better way to start the new decade than with you guys.

2-Can you talk to us more about your latest single “Summertime Departures”?

It’s a song I started to daub about a year after I landed in the very disconcerting and singular city of Tangier, where I sort of drifted in as I was facing a moment of great personal confusion and turmoil. My father had recently passed away, and I have always had a difficult and complicated sort of relationship with him. This is what was at the center of the song’s initial creative draft. It became for me a starting point to address emotions I kept on denying myself for too long to remember, to acknowledge the profound sense of disorientation that was loudly echoing what felt like living a senseless existence. It greatly emancipated me as a person and therefore creatively later on.

That’s why the song does not only very bluntly expose the essence of loss, isolation, grief and the nature of sorrows that come with those strong feelings, I guess, but also shares the vulnerability of moments we cared for or would now give anything to share with others, as much as it reminds us of the implacable nature of time – something we are all confronted to. But still, regardless of how sincere we might think we are as we promise ourselves and others, we’ll no longer let our everlasting pursuit of impermanence dictate the measure of communal love, we fall back as fast as we swear “I’ll never do it again.” Well, at least, that’s as honest as I could have been at the time.

3-Did any event in particular inspire you to write this song?

Besides my father’s passing, I would say that Tangier greatly inspired me to explore those emotions on a larger scale, or at least with a bit of perspective. Walking in the old part of the city, looking in the direction of the Jewish cemetery, I noticed people delicately installing rocks on top of tombstones. I thought it was such an affectionate way to pay their homage, a magnificent gesture, which ultimately led to the lyrics “And I set stones on your sanctum shrine, wrote down a few words of my own so I could remember” …

Those words reflect some kind of balance between the violent emotions erupting with loss and the peace only found in letting go. It’s an abstract paradox until you are confronted with the death of someone who has been highly significant for you, even in a context of disruption.

“Summertime Departures” became my way of saying that no matter what I may have spent my entire life believing in or what I may have forgotten, denied or rejected with time, there is indeed a permanence amidst the most painful of all sorrows… and again, the decision to let go in the acceptance that is unconditional love, just like stone, will forever endure.

4-How was the filming process and experience behind the video?

To be honest, I still have mixed feelings about it. It was the very first time I was sharing those songs in a live setup. It was still very difficult for me to talk about it all… But there I was, after what felt like an eternity, standing on stage again. My last concert was almost 3 years before, in New York City, with my band Your Favorite Enemies. But this time, I was playing a hometown gig in front of friends and family in one of the most iconic venues as a headliner at the Montreal International Jazz Festival. I was conducting 9 other musicians, it was sold out, no warm-up gig, and it was filmed for a potential release. I was terrified, for so many reasons.

The main reason wasn’t about the “show” itself; I had spent 12 years fronting a band that played both basements and arenas. I wasn’t worried about that… For me, it was about the honesty with which I would be able to share the emotions with the people that became an obsession. Should I simply play the songs? Should I totally let go and potentially lose it? What should I say to the audience? How could I act? All different questions I had never asked myself before, but because I exposed it all with a degree of authenticity I had probably never dwelled that deep into before, I was completely lost, which explains why I don’t remember much besides the feelings I had to face.

It’s once I started working on the video that it all came back to me, as waves of pure and vivid reality. I was shocked, somehow, to see myself in the middle of a moment that mattered more than I could have imagined in the first place… but since I had now a little more perspective on that moment, having played in a few concerts since, I was able to appreciate the fact that I truly let go, abandoned myself into it and honored every single song by being as sincere as I could possibly be at that very specific instant.

That genuine incarnation of the songs, especially “Summertime Departures”, transcends all the technical elements that usually come with trying to capture the raw emotions of a live performance through a distant production mimicking something that just can’t be, so I’m truly at peace with it. The video is in no way a cheap commercialization attempt, but a wonderful invitation to commune earnestly.

5-The single comes off your new album Windows In The Sky – what’s the story behind the title?

“Windows in the Sky” is the title I gave to a little notebook I had when I first left for Tangier.

I was on the plane, totally exhausted, physically, emotionally and spiritually. I probably didn’t know how desperate I was at the time, which, looking back, was probably a good thing! I was looking by the window… I have always had a weird and creepy fascination in how far from the ground a plane can crash for everyone to survive, and I have entertained that thought since I’ve seen a plane crash on TV as a young kid.

So I was looking at the cars and buildings getting smaller and smaller, until there was nothing left for me to see, I had the impression that somehow, we were all, to some extent, a window in the sky… the sky being a template, a virgin canvas, even if only the reflection of something we can truly define when we take the time to contemplate no matter how elusive and inspiring it could be.

I thought about my life and found it difficult to make sense out of it. Thought about the friends I was leaving behind, the unconsumed grief I had for my late father and wondered what in the world was I going to North Africa for. And reality kind of hit me… I felt a shocking sensation of dizziness, closed the window’s blinds, started controlling my breathing, focusing on the moment, keeping my thoughts in tune, and I slowly got back to myself. But that idea, “Windows in the Sky”, is somehow something that I kept and I simply wrote on the cover of that notebook about to be endlessly tortured with sadness, sorrows, regrets, poems, prayers and letters… for months, then for the 2 years I finally spent in Tangier.

It’s only much later, when I realized that all those words were more vivid than all the possible despair they were initially born from and stigmas of upcoming melodies, songs up to a new sonic journey, that I knew “Windows in the Sky” was the perfect name for the album… especially after trying to figure some smart ass type of album titles down…

And I mean, who would have loved to close their eyes and listen to an album called: “35,000 Feet High: The Story Of A Free Falling Panic Attack”…

6-How was the recording and writing process?

The writing process was simple as I had never intended to do anything with all the texts and pieces of noises I crafted during that period. It was more about experiencing an emotional detox than actually envisioning a potential album release, and I think that’s why I have been able to go through that season of my life and eventually decide that I had to let those songs become greater than all the conflictual feelings they bloomed from.

I wanted the recording process to be minimalist, to be the result of a direct live capture, to focus on honesty rather than finding the right parts, to dwell in the moment rather than stoically overthink it all. I didn’t care about the format, the time code, the tempo nor what people would eventually make of this album. It was about emancipating myself from everything I had learned about writing and recording music… The rest of it was the rest of it.

And even though I have an incredible professional studio established in a former catholic church, I decided to avoid any rewriting, re-recording, rearranging temptations. I laid down the final vocal tracks without all the usual processes in my modest studio located in the highlands of Virginia where I now live since coming back from Africa…

7-Would you call this a departure from your previous musical work or rather an extension?

I never really cared much for artistic labels, they have always been for others to define… So it’s difficult for me to actually say, if not for the fact that Your Favorite Enemies was a fast-pace discharge of vivid emotions, like painting a large fresco while deciding to only use primary colors. The outline of ideas and emotions only is displayed. It’s like looking through the window of a fast train, trying to perceive details of the forest you are passing through. If you go frame by frame, it’s almost impossible to perceive the real nature of what’s flashing before your eyes, but as images are streaming, it is possible to construct an idea and therefore an image. That was writing in the context of a fast-paced rock band for me.

As for what it is for my personal project, it’s more as if the train was going so slow that not only I was able to see all the possible details in every frame of the scenery, but it became about my courage and resilience to face what’s too uncomfortable to keep my eyes open. And no matter how I could hate those sceneries – up to the train itself – it’s what inspired me into daubing new lines, new forms, while adding new colors and shades to describe what stands between the reality and my need for enfranchisement, as much as why and how I feel about it all. This is what truly matters in the end. By its nature, this album is entirely personal.

8-What role does Canada play in your music?

It’s actually the very first time anyone has ever asked me about that… I don’t know how the notion of being Canadian truly impacts me, but my environment has a tremendous role for me when it comes to creation. So maybe it is more than I ever thought… The 4 seasons, the snow, the sun’s deprivation, 2 founding nations, all the cultural influences from immigrants… Is it more about North American East-Coast influence? America shaped Canada in a profound way, so I guess being raised in a French Canadian environment has a lot more to do with it. I guess I’ll have to think about it!

9-How has Radiohead and Mogwai influenced your writing? 

Their total absence of creative boundaries and resilient determination to do whatever they want, the way they want it… Freedom is not only the most incredible of all personal powers, it’s also a gift you have the blessing to share by inspiring others. That is the tremendous influence those bands, amongst others, have had on me and my music.

10-What aspect of your own emotions did you get to explore on this record?

I would say finding hopefulness through the grief, faithlessness, sorrows and regrets that emerged from a loss – in my case, my father. It’s somehow difficult to find the courage to admit to yourself how disoriented you are. Anger is an energy that keeps you going for a while, but just like bitterness, its price remains the disappearance of everything you once believed in and thought you were. Youthful dreams, innocence and illusions are themes I wanted to explore as well. Not in some tangible and literal approach, but more as a reflective canvas to address the nature of time and how elusive it seems until we have to muse at our own impermanence and affective vulnerability in regard to a reality we’re trying to avoid or trying to realign with our own make-believes. So maybe the album is also about finding redemption for having so easily given up on what it means to believe… whatever it might have been for me.

11-Would you call this your most personal record to date?

Most definitely. I mean, there were pieces of personal elements in every album I wrote with Your Favorite Enemies, but nothing like how explicitly intimate and widely exposed I am on “Windows in the Sky”, which explains how difficult it has been for me to release it. I knew I wouldn’t be able to hide myself behind a band, that I would have to entirely assume its vulnerable nature.

12-Where else did you find the inspiration for the songs and lyrics?

In what’s surrounds me, people mostly. The human nature and its complex and paradoxical conditions… I’ve always liked to think I write with images rather than with words. Images, like the individuals who define them, offer me a great deal of creative angles; luminosity and darkness, contrasts and impermanence, contradictions and immutability, colors and chromes, balance and saturation, even silence… Images have that unbelievable ability to involve all senses, from perfumes and tones, to textures, flavors, and desires… Therefore, I like to describe what I perceive through the visible and the invisible.

13-Any plans to hit the road?

Yes, I’m about to embark on a European tour from February 9 to March 11 – 26 shows in total – with my good friends from the band …And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead. Following that, I’ll also have another European stretch of 20-plus dates late spring up to the summer festivals… Fall already looks busy, but it’s too far ahead, I’ll let you guys know in a few weeks, promised!

14-What else is happening next in Alex Henry Foster’s world?

Several upcoming releases. “Summertime Departures” EP on January 17, the Japanese release of “Windows in the Sky” on March 11 with a promo stint in Asia, International release (minus America) on April 17 and the American release on May 1. Each album will be accompanied by the entire performance at the Montreal International Jazz Festival.

Let’s say I’m quite privileged to see my album being received with such generous enthusiasm because I greatly struggled with the idea of releasing any of it not that long ago. Gotta learn to count your blessings…! So thank you again Vents for not only having me but for offering me such latitude during our conversation, I’m truly grateful for your welcome!