Threatens to redefine the word 'epic'

Guitar World

Unforeseen DIY artist

Rolling Stone Magazine

Brings to my mind artists like Hammock and Asche & Spencer, with heaping helpings of Mogwai and Explosions in the Sky

BrooklynVegan

Dreamy Blast of Post-Rock

NME Magazine

Sonic Youth meets Slint at a party hosted by Mogwai

Silent Radio

Additional Live Reviews

Alex Henry Foster is a kind of cultural jack-of-all-trades: He is not only a musician, but is also an artist and author. So musical genre classifications are not enough for what Foster and his five musicians are producing this Thursday evening on the stage of the Yard Club in the north of Cologne. Post-rock could best be defined as a musical superstructure, but there is much more: drone-like humming, jazzy percussion and brass inserts, shoegaze-like walls of sound, prog jams, synthesizer pads and guitar riffs created using a violin bow intertwine, repel each other and get lost in details, only to ultimately merge again into a complex unity. You can't talk about an Alex Henry Foster show without talking about the closeness between him and the audience.
Anselm WarneckeVisions Magazine (Germany)
"Six songs. But songs of fifteen minutes each, spread over the entire evening, that’s how Alex Henry Foster planned his campaign of conquest. One was completely captivated by the music and could let themselves be carried away all evening long. The band played not only with the audience, but also played each other. And there were enough interludes to make everyone’s talent and instrument shine. Alex Henry Foster was, of course, the eye-catcher. With a powerful voice, profound lyrics and tight guitar and cello work, the audience was completely taken in."
Guido MareeDaMusic (Belgium)
"This is no ‘by the numbers’ mechanical gig, it’s an organic, unpredictable and staggering live experience. This is a band seemingly almost telepathic in its performance, as they are clearly improvising around the framework of the songs, led like some sort of psychic conductor by Alex who with a subtle hand gesture or nod of the head – or probably just the power of thought – shapes and directs the band."
Leo TrimmingThe Progressive Aspect (UK)
Because Foster's music only develops its effect in interaction with his lyrics, their poetic depth and their personal meaning for the artist. Texts that can only be understood through extensive discussion. Or simply because they are performed live by Alex Henry Foster and can be experienced. Because Foster is not an actor on stage, but an artist who literally relives the suffering described. Because anyone who has looked the man in the eyes just once while reciting his lyrics knows that he and his lyrics become a unit on stage.
Floh Fishbetreutesproggen (Germany)
"The music and the words; the feelings, come from deep within. More than once he refers to his father’s passing and how, despite the pain that never goes away, we should be look to embrace our time. “This is real…THIS IS REAL!” he bellows with a fervent passion at the end of the set as the cool ambience of Shadows Of Our Evening Tides builds into the crescendo of a grand finale"
Mike AinscoeAt The Barrier (UK)
"What words can I conjure that will describe what I have just witnessed and experienced? No matter what I say it will be inadequate, it will fall short as, sometimes, you just need to be there... Let me try my best. Communion is the perfect description for this. It takes that step further on from being just music. It’s hypnotic, pulling you deeper into it like the undertow of an ocean. You feel like it’s pulling the air from your lungs, the bass and drums forming a restless crash on you. The layered melodies pull you further into its embrace. There’s moments of respite with Alex’s poetic lyrics cutting through, offering you the brief opportunity of hope before you’re snatched away again. The presentation is just as hypnotic as the music itself."
Scott Hamilton3 Songs & Out (UK)
Alex tortures his guitars like the tortured being that he is, expressing in this way the inner battles that he has led and won as he wins and dominates his 6-string. This can be executed in long and melancholic complaints or on the contrary transport us at the speed of light in supernatural flights and in splashing supercharged distortions sustained, amplified, multiplied by its Long Shadows which do much more than to accompany Foster…"
Yves-Marie Popof FrançoisINTENSITIES IN 10S CITIES (Belgium)
The O2 Ritz is surprisingly full for a support band many may not have heard of, but after their set many now know precisely who they are. And they cram an awful lot into the two songs they play – Slow Pace of the Winds and The Hunter, I say songs but really they are long sonic masterpieces that take you on a journey. Whilst the band are playing studiously, perfectly, Foster is more dynamic with a passion and intensity that more than shines through. This is more than evident on The Hunter during which his emotion pours out and into the souls of those witnessing this.
Anthony FirminManchesterRocks (UK)
Firstly, what a dark, brooding, and utterly fantastic show it was. My pit pass allowed me access to the first three songs, and luckily for me the songs of Alex Henry Foster are ten-minute epics and so managed to photograph the whole support set. More alternative post-rock than prog, there was a certain rawness and tense energy throughout the show that was tempered with more delicate, emotional, and beautiful details.
ChazIndie Squid (UK)
"Alex Foster and The Long Shadows are in Paris, and their visit to the Supersonic follows an evening that has been described as epic, the day before, at the Zèbre de Belleville (2 hours 40 minutes of set, it's almost Springsteenian!). You must therefore come very early, at least two hours before the start of the concert, to ensure access, and the small venue is filled very quickly. The set itself was moved forward by almost an hour to allow time for the band. An additional feature this evening: with its 6 musicians and very imposing equipment, the small triangular stage of Supersonic Records is not enough, and Alex and his two guitarists are installed on the floor"
Eric DebarnotBenzine Mag (France)
After a long, cinematic, post-rock opening, a bomb came through what was a dome of silence, a storm of cold anger, infra-bass, bowed guitars and a half-spoken, half-sung with a desperate voice. An emotional and sonic tsunami lasting more than fifteen minutes entitled 'The Hunter'. I was on the ground, conquered.
JC Le BrunNeoprog (France)

LIVE VIDEO

SHORT BIO

Lead singer for the Juno Awards nominee post-rock band Your Favorite Enemies, Alex Henry Foster launched his debut album “Windows in the Sky” on November 9, 2018 and ended his first week of release at #3 in the Canadian Billboard Charts, right behind Muse and Imagine Dragons. The album stayed in the iTunes charts for a total of 26 weeks and also reaching #1 several times.

His second album, “Standing Under Bright Lights”, consists of the entirety of his comeback on the stage after 3 years. Recorded during the 40th edition of the Festival de Jazz de Montréal, the album is a reinterpretation of “Windows in the Sky”. The album entered the charts at #4 in Billboard Canada, #13 Emerging Artists in Billboard USA, peaked at #11 in the UK Independent Albums Chart, #17 in the Irish Albums Chart, and also made its debut in the Australian ARIA Charts at #6.

Read the Full Bio

Live from The Upper Room Studio

Live with BrooklynVegan

(July 26, 2020)


– Sorrows (If Only I Had Known)*
– Snowflakes in July
– The Love That Moves (The End Is Beginning)
*unreleased track

“Windows in the Sky” album Launch 60 minutes LIVE with Louder/Prog

(May 1, 2020)


– The Pain That Bonds
– Winter Is Coming In
– Shadows of Our Evening Tides
– Summertime Departures

Live with Orange Blossom Special Festival

(June 14, 2020)


– Lavender Sky

Live from The Upper Room Studio

(March 22, 2020)


– The Hunter

All the Live Sessions

PAST TOURS

Album RELEASES & NOTABLE FACTS

The album “Standing Under Bright Lights”, has been released worldwide on April 16, 2021.

The album was recorded live at Festival de Jazz de Montréal on July 5, 2019, day that also marked Alex’s return to the stage after a 3-year absence.

Charts Debut
Billboard Canada: #4
Billboard USA (Emerging Artists): #13
ARIA Australian Album Charts: #6
UK’s Independent Albums Chart: #13
Ireland’s Albums Chart: #17

The album “Windows in the Sky”, first solo album by Alex Henry Foster, was initially release on November 9, 2018, and was available in Canada only. 

In September 2019, the album was in nomination for album of the year at Gala ADISQ, alongside The Brooks and Jesse Mac Cormack. 

The full-length album would be released internationally on May 1st, 2020. Four EPs have also been released this year. 

More Information

Official Music VIdeos

June 2020
Lavender Sky

March 2020
The Hunter

April 2019
Shadows of Our Evening Tides

More Videos on YouTube

In The Press

American Songwriter
BrooklynVegan
NME Magazine
More Articles & Interviews