Alex Henry Foster Shares New Single 'Sorrowful Bouquet'

In April of this year, Alex Henry Foster and Momoka shared their LP, Kimiyo, to much acclaim. Foster’s unique blend of introspective lyricism and captivating melodies quickly secured Kimiyo top positions on multiple US and Canadian Billboard charts, including the #1 spot on the Canadian Alternative Albums chart and #2 spots on Canadian Top Current Albums, Top Canadian Album Sales and Billboard Canadian Albums charts. Last month, Foster announced his newest LP, A Measure Of Shape And Sounds, alongside the first single, "Alchemical Connection".

Now, he shares the newest single from A Measure Of Shape And Sounds, "Sorrowful Bouquet". Alex Henry Foster talks about how "Sorrowful Bouquet" fits into the tapestry of A Measure Of Shape And Sounds, saying, "As much as the nature of [the album] has been inspired by a profound introspection about life’s impermanence and the decaying sensations that accompany the defying acceptance of our own existential consciousness, “Sorrowful Bouquet” evokes serenity and peacefulness, the results of losing our illusionary control over the conceptual power of time and over our physical limitations and tangible perspectives, thus offering the possibility to embrace emotional freedom that comes with the emancipative reflection of who we are; a transient fragment of the sound waves we’ve created through the limitations of our own selves."

The single is shared alongside a music video that encapsulates the serene feeling that the track evokes. "Aligned with the aesthetic of the Asian wabi sabi philosophy, the video for the song “Sorrowful Bouquet” was filmed in the Japanese prefecture of Tottori and is the visual metaphor contextualizing such disorienting state of mind, where the endless ocean of undulating and modulating sand symbolizes the volatile incarnation of our intimate — yet global — sense of reality."

The video invites the listener to pause, if only for 6 minutes and 54 seconds, and find themselves immersed in pinks and purples, flowing between the sand and the sun along with the water. "The water all around acts as a representation of a perpetual passage towards letting go, while the transience of the wind offers the uncanny sublimation that balances our daily sensations, scattering its different components. The sun then comes as a stabilizing marker between evolving spiritual intangibilities and the palpable decline of our personal fatalistic views. It’s a willful acceptance beyond our controlling resistance. "

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 embody that exact moment, carrying their human disposition not only to abandon oneself to the motion but to become one with it.

Alex Henry Foster will play a short run across the U.S. this fall, supporting Temples. Tickets are on sale now. Find the full list of dates and tickets below.

Alex Henry Foster Live

10/9 - Seattle, WA - Neumos
10/11 - Oakland, CA - The New Parish
10/14 - Chicago, IL - Lincoln Hall
10/15 - Columbus, OH - A&R Music Bar
10/16 - Washington, DC - Union Stage
10/17 - New York, NY - Racket
10/18 - Cambridge, MA - The Sinclair

A MEASURE OF SHAPE AND SOUNDS - TRACKLISTING

01. Thoughtful Descent
02. Mechanical Revision
03. A Mind’s Tapestry
04. Cinematic Insight
05. Self-Portrait
06. Sorrowful Bouquet
07. Manic View
08. A Gesture, A Present
09. Alchemical Connection

ALEX HENRY FOSTER BIO

Alex Henry Foster is a Canadian musician, author, producer, and composer, formerly the frontman for Juno Awards nominee Your Favorite Enemies. Alex Henry Foster released his first solo album Windows in the Sky in 2018. The album is a “dreamy blast of post-rock” (NME) that “brings to mind artists like Hammock and Asche & Spencer with heaping helpings of Mogwai and Explosions in the Sky”. His second album consists of a live reinterpretation of his solo material, recorded at a sold-out performance at the 40th Festival de Jazz de Montreal. Ben Lemelin is a Canadian multi-instrumentalist, songwriter and music producer. He and Foster have partnered on many projects together. Lemelin is part of The Long Shadows, Foster’s band, and was bass player in Your Favorite Enemies. Momoka, a Japanese artist from Tokyo, established herself in Montreal 10 years ago and has been a consistent collaborator with AHF, and is also an artist in her own right. She has a solo record set to be released in early 2025.

Photo credit: Stephanie Bujold