About the Album
Following Kimiyo, what would eventually become the second chapter of Voyage à la Mer, A Measure of Shape and Sounds, is an intimate journey of its own, representing a profound personal breathe-in made of several layers of guitar loops, reverberations, resonances, and oscillations juxtaposed together to create a sonic multi-directional contemplative maelstrom. Purposely recorded live to capture as direct a flow as possible, the songs embodied at that exact moment carried their human disposition not only to abandon oneself to the motion but to become one with it. Foster mentioned: “It felt like the representation of an organic movement that could ultimately break us free from the echo chamber we might have been trapped in and therefore end the emotional twirl and affective cycle of redundancy that too often comes with our emptiness and desperation.”
The Artists
Alex Henry Foster
Alex Henry Foster (AHF) is a Canadian musician, author, producer, and composer, formerly the frontman for Juno Awards nominee post-rock/noise band Your Favorite Enemies (YFE).
Hailed as an “unforeseen DIY artist” by Rolling Stone Magazine, Alex Henry Foster released his first solo album, “Windows in the Sky”, in Canada in 2018 and globally in 2020. The album is a “dreamy blast of post-rock” (NME) that “brings to my mind artists like Hammock and Asche & Spencer, with heaping helpings of Mogwai and Explosions in the Sky” (BrooklynVegan) and has been nominated for “Album of the Year” in Canada in 2019.
His second album, “Standing Under Bright Lights”, released in April 2021, consists of a complete reinterpretation of “Windows in the Sky” by an 11-piece ensemble and was recorded during a sold-out performance at the 40th edition of the Festival International de Jazz de Montréal. That concert led to a series of live appearances that established Foster and The Long Shadows, his backup band, as a must-see live act, garnering rave reviews and comments and propelling their unique improvisational and unpredictable creative character.
Foster is also known for being a precursor of a new generation of independent artists-entrepreneurs. Co-owner of the label “Hopeful Tragedy Records” along with his bandmate Jeff Beaulieu, he is also the co-founder of the Upper Room Studio, located in a former Catholic church transformed into a multimedia complex.
Hailed as an “unforeseen DIY artist” by Rolling Stone Magazine, Alex Henry Foster released his first solo album, “Windows in the Sky”, in Canada in 2018 and globally in 2020. The album is a “dreamy blast of post-rock” (NME) that “brings to my mind artists like Hammock and Asche & Spencer, with heaping helpings of Mogwai and Explosions in the Sky” (BrooklynVegan) and has been nominated for “Album of the Year” in Canada in 2019.
His second album, “Standing Under Bright Lights”, released in April 2021, consists of a complete reinterpretation of “Windows in the Sky” by an 11-piece ensemble and was recorded during a sold-out performance at the 40th edition of the Festival International de Jazz de Montréal. That concert led to a series of live appearances that established Foster and The Long Shadows, his backup band, as a must-see live act, garnering rave reviews and comments and propelling their unique improvisational and unpredictable creative character.
Foster is also known for being a precursor of a new generation of independent artists-entrepreneurs. Co-owner of the label “Hopeful Tragedy Records” along with his bandmate Jeff Beaulieu, he is also the co-founder of the Upper Room Studio, located in a former Catholic church transformed into a multimedia complex.
Ben Lemelin
Ben Lemelin is a Canadian multi-instrumentalist, songwriter and music producer. Best known as the bass player for Juno Awards-nominated rock band Your Favorite Enemies, he is also the creative collaborator of fellow Canadian Alex Henry Foster, lead guitarist and second drummer for his live band The Long Shadows. Lemelin has been nominated as Canadian Sound Engineer of the Year in 2021 for Foster’s album Standing Under Bright Lights. He runs the Upper Room Studio in the outskirts of Montreal, where he resides.
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