{"id":14360,"date":"2021-04-06T16:17:28","date_gmt":"2021-04-06T20:17:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/alexhenryfoster.com\/american-songwriter-alex-henry-foster-confronts-grief-with-improvisation-in-montreal\/"},"modified":"2024-08-08T12:44:40","modified_gmt":"2024-08-08T16:44:40","slug":"american-songwriter-alex-henry-foster-confronts-grief-with-improvisation-in-montreal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alexhenryfoster.com\/fr\/american-songwriter-alex-henry-foster-confronts-grief-with-improvisation-in-montreal\/","title":{"rendered":"[American Songwriter] Alex Henry Foster Confronts Grief with Improvisation in Montreal"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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[American Songwriter] Alex Henry Foster Confronts Grief with Improvisation in Montreal<\/h1>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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PUBLI\u00c9 INITIALEMENT DANS American Songwriter (seulement en fran\u00e7ais)<\/h3>

Lisez l\u2019article original ici<\/a><\/p>

What seems like a lifetime ago, considering the new shape of the world\u2014alternative sensation Alex Henry Foster stepped onto the Club Soda Stage at the Montreal Int\u2019l Jazz Festival to perform a spectacular set from his album\u00a0Windows in the Sky. Foster\u2019s performance went on to be what was one of the most successful shows in 40 years of the festival\u2019s history.<\/p>

The festival was the first and at the time the only place Foster had planned to perform the intensely intimate track list, which Foster curated from an improvisational approach ignited by his transparent suffering from the loss of his father. The Montreal Int\u2019l Jazz Festival was also one of the few places Foster remembered going to with his father as a kid. Thousands of people were lucky enough to witness the entrancing set in person, highlighted by previously unreleased song,\u00a0\u201cThe Son of Hannah<\/a>\u201d\u00a0alongside album hit\u00a0\u201cLavender Sky<\/a>.\u201d\u00a0The sheer energy and intimate reveal is now available to the world with the forthcoming concert film release,\u00a0Standing Under Bright Lights<\/a>, due out April 16.<\/p>

\u201cPlaying there was very special on so many levels,\u201d Foster tells American Songwriter about playing the festival. \u201cIt was \u00a0the intimacy of the moments that I had with my father that guided me to do that. Because after releasing\u00a0Windows in the Sky, I wasn\u2019t really looking to tour. My concern was that those songs would lose their meaning playing them over and over again and getting into some kind of a mimic every night. For me it was going to be a one-off thing. I didn\u2019t have any kind of ambition whatsoever about pursuing anything after that.\u201d<\/p>

Still very raw from the loss, it was not easy for Foster to perform these songs live which were written during his father\u2019s passing. So naturally his one and only stipulation to play the festival was that he have complete creative control over the production, which he prepared with an 11-piece band. The songs were real, the moments were real, and the pain was real and Foster wanted to keep the performance as such.<\/p>

\u201cI think that they put in a great deal of effort to accommodate what I wanted to do,\u201d Foster said about the festival. \u201cAnd that was a real blessing for me because it was such an emotional moment for me as a first hometown gig, which is always difficult for so many reasons, like playing in front of my father\u2019s family\u00a0and old friends\u2014people came from all over the world to see that moment. So, it was really intimate and I didn\u2019t want to turn that into like commerce and promotion.\u201d<\/p>

\"\"<\/p>

Expanding from Foster\u2019s usual 6-piece band to an 11-piece band was a daunting task, especially without any prepared sheet music, but it sparked genuine collaboration in the face of music\u2019s guiding force. And though the idea of improv and surrendering to the songs felt organic to Foster, it was equally as difficult for the rest of the band.<\/p>

\u201cMy approach was from a completely different mindset; I was conducting the band,\u201d Foster said. \u201cIt wasn\u2019t something like, \u2018\u2018ok let\u2019s rehearse the same forms so then after that we can play those songs live.\u2019 To keep those songs fresh, to keep everything and everybody on their toes and within the moment was to improvise and change whatever structures we were stuck in. We were following the vibe and the emotions rather than trying to fit the emotions in the context of a song that was already organized and well-rehearsed.<\/p>

\u201cThen people were asking if I had music sheets. And I would say \u2018this is more of a philosophical kind of approach\u2014we don\u2019t have music sheets, that\u2019s exactly what I want to avoid.\u2019 And then people are looking at you, then looking at themselves and each other thinking, \u2018this is going to be interesting.\u2019\u201d<\/p>

And it was. The performance of what was mapped from the 9-song track list peeled from\u00a0Windows in the Sky\u00a0went on for two-and-a-half hours and captivated concert-goers every second with improv, emotions, darkness, poetry laden lyrics, spoken word vocals and experimental music that transported everyone in attendance to a different plane.\u00a0<\/p>

\u201cWe never knew where the music would lead us or the moment,\u201d Foster said. \u201cThe fun thing about the concert was there were a lot of moments that happened without planning. We didn\u2019t envision some of those parts and I think that\u2019s what gives the concert its very unique and emotional nature\u2014everybody had to be within the moment. And when something was slowly happening, nobody felt like they had to fight against the current.\u201d<\/p>

Perhaps a partial part of the improvisation was guided by the spoken-word styled lyrics and vocals that Foster had written in his home in Virginia, during his early stages of grief, when all he could really do was write words down and talk about how he was feeling.<\/p>

\u201cIt came very instinctively and naturally when I started to write and record those songs in the intimacy of my place in Virginia, I didn\u2019t try to turn those words into songs,\u201d he says. \u201cIt was more a moment and what I was going through at the time when I could ask- \u2018what does it mean and how do I feel about them?\u2019 I wasn\u2019t really thinking much about the style.\u201d<\/p>

Music has always been a kind of blanket for Foster, and it served him even better as a public figure dealing with such loss.\u00a0Being hidden in a sea of music and other band members, offered the protection he sought to be vulnerable on stage to be able to release his pain as well as preserve the delicacy of the songs.<\/p>

\u201cFor me, it was way easier to hide in the context of a band,\u201d he said. \u201cBecause you\u2019d never have to take all the responsibility of your words. In a way you don\u2019t have to take ownership of everything you\u2019re saying or wanting to share.\u201d<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Though much of the track list dealt with grief and loss, it also touched on the metaphorical loss of parents as kids grow up the kind of transformation that takes place\u2014going from adolescence to adulthood and assuming responsibility for one\u2019s own life.<\/p>

\u201cIt\u2019s also about the rites of passage where you you\u2019re losing your father as a boy,\u201d Foster said about\u00a0Windows in the Sky\u00a0overall. \u201cSuddenly there\u2019s a different perspective about adulthood and what you went through as a kid, and the few significant moments you had with him. But it\u2019s also about what your own journey has been and where it might lead, if you don\u2019t take ownership of your life.\u201d<\/p>

And though\u00a0Windows in the Sky\u00a0wasn\u2019t intended for anything or conceived with any goal it was Foster\u2019s coping mechanism navigating him through this period of life, providing some simple kind of reprieve and ability to make sense of his emotions.<\/p>

\u201cIt was testimony of honesty, without ambition,\u201d Foster said. \u201cThe music from\u00a0Windows in the Sky\u00a0wasn\u2019t even supposed to be something that I would commercialize and release. It was more of my own personal little therapy. It\u2019s been produced in a very natural way and in the urgency of the moment because I didn\u2019t want to play with those things. I wanted those emotions to remain what they were to represent the moments that I had with my father.\u201d<\/p>

Performing the songs at The festival, Foster thought about how he could use the songs not as profit or commercialism but as further therapy and a way to connect with other people. And every show after, as the record grew in success, became a test against Fosters\u2019 own emotions and vulnerability to move one step beyond his grief phase and into a new light.<\/p>

\u201cI didn\u2019t want to feel like I needed to hurt myself every night for those songs to be real,\u201d Foster explained. \u201cThey were real. I allowed them to evolve and through them I\u2019ve been able to evolve as well. I let them become what they were through sharing with other people. That communion, really shaped them in different forms, night after night when I decided to\u2014after that concert at the Jazz Fest\u2014 to keep going a little bit and see if I really wanted to give it a try.\u201d<\/p>

Two years later and a lot of isolation and alone time propelled by the pandemic, Foster is ready to further share the music in a live setting on a proper tour setting, just as he did in Montreal. Foster and his band, The Long Shadows, are tentatively scheduled to tour Europe shortly after the release of\u00a0Standing Under Bright Lights.<\/p>

\u201cI think that the \u2018no boundaries\u2019 thing is something that I\u2019m very blessed to do and will welcome for the rest of what I do,\u201d Foster said. \u201cNow I just don\u2019t think too much when it comes to creativity. I just want to just to breathe in, and to allow myself to discover what might be breathed out after. I know that it\u2019s a bit cryptic and weird but it\u2019s really where I am now, as a person. And I think that the music and what I\u2019m doing represents that.<\/p>

\u201cNow I rediscover myself through rediscovering the songs. I\u2019m already working on the next record, and I\u2019m really in a position where I\u2019m feeling so good after years of being in a very dark place in my life. So, yes\u2014it\u2019s difficult to talk about, but at the same time, it\u2019s like a wonderful message to something else.\u201d<\/p>

Standing Under Bright Lights\u00a0is available for\u00a0pre-order here. The release includes both a live album as well as the filmed performance from The Montreal Int\u2019l Jazz Festival.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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MACIE BENNETT
6 avril 2021<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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… Lire la suite<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":14361,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"elementor_header_footer","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[191,195],"class_list":["post-14360","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-press-fr","tag-interview-fr","tag-subl-fr"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alexhenryfoster.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14360","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alexhenryfoster.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alexhenryfoster.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alexhenryfoster.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alexhenryfoster.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14360"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/alexhenryfoster.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14360\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":54456,"href":"https:\/\/alexhenryfoster.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14360\/revisions\/54456"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alexhenryfoster.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14361"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alexhenryfoster.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14360"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alexhenryfoster.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14360"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alexhenryfoster.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14360"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}