New York, NY (Top40 Charts) Alternative, independent DIY artist Alex Henry Foster honors the legacy of Lou Reed, releasing a cover version of "The Power of the Heart" May 6 to digital and streaming outlets everywhere from Hopeful Tragedy Records. Along with a four-minute radio-ready mix, there is an eight-minute-27-second version of "The Power of the Heart" included with the single. There is also a lathe-cut vinyl, silkscreen-printed, signed and numbered limited-edition version.
Perhaps Reed's most underrated song, "The Power of the Heart" was also a favorite of creative pioneer Laurie Anderson who was his longtime partner and wife until his death in 2013. Bringing his own signature, dense sonic texture to the song, Foster recorded "The Power of the Heart" in part at his Virginia studio, where he currently resides, along with a grandiose orchestration captured live in his Quebec-based The
Upper Room Studio.
"I've been a fan of Lou Reed's music ever since I found that strange-sounding LP titled Transformer in the prime section of my father's vinyl collection when I was a kid," shares Foster. "It took me years, streaming into the bleakest turbulences of my own inner voyage, to envision the prospect of making a monument of sincerity such as 'The Power of the Heart' mine.
"Being liberated from the anguish to be seen for who I am is the reason why I didn't feel the pressure to mimic Reed's incarnation of the song. Nor was I constrained by the burden of having to emulate his intimate intent," continues Foster. "Musical arrangements evolved into some sort of spiritual uplift for me, turning it all into a celebration of what can't be owned, measured or defined; a boundless and infinite transformative ascension that can only be experienced once shared and given away.
"That is for me the true everlasting nature that is the power of the heart," summarizes Foster. "Liberating in its contemplation. Compassionate in its acceptance. Transformative in its incarnation."
Playing the new music and fan favorites while on tour, Alex Henry Foster & the Long
Shadows return to
Europe for a 27-city, 10-country Not All Wonders Have Been Lost tour, including select encore appearances in markets played in 2021.
Around last year's tour, PROG Magazine (Manchester, UK) noted that Foster has "a solid bond with his followers by opening up on the topics of depression, loneliness and mental illness, but mostly, by inviting them to care for others, to hope for a brighter day and to keep on dreaming."
Trójka
Radio (Warsaw, PL) adds, "Swans,
Radiohead or Nick Cave? What if we could combine the results of their sounds? Then we would have Alex Henry Foster...One of the best concerts in my life."
Slam Alternative
Music Magazine (Budapest, HU) says, "… there is almost no lost translation of the burdensome feelings from the charismatic artist to a captivated audience and the display of musical intensity culminates in a perfectly orchestrated symbiosis of emotional experience and an overwhelming concert experience" as Rock&Folk
Radio (Paris, FR) shares, "We are welcoming a Canadian artist who has literally filled up the Élysée-Montmartre."
Rolling Stone, Paste, American Songwriter-featured Alex Henry Foster (AHF) is a Canadian singer-songwriter, author, producer and composer from Montreal and currently living in Virginia. He is perhaps best known as the frontman of Juno Awards nominee and Post-Rock / Noise band Your Favorite Enemies (YFE). In 2018, Foster launched his debut solo album Windows in the Sky, which hit No. 1 multiple times on the Billboard Canadian Albums chart, staying in the Top 40 on the chart for a full year after its release. Last year, he released the live triple-vinyl / double-CD and concert film Standing Under Bright
Lights amidst international critical and commercial acclaim and featuring the singles "The Son of Hannah," "Winter Is Coming In" and "Summertime Departures / Sometimes I Dream."
Using his music and lyrics to bring something greater than ourselves, and sharing from personal experiences about depression, dreams, grief and hope, Foster is a former street gang member who has become a fierce human rights advocate. He has teamed with Amnesty International for several campaigns, established the non-profit group Rock N Rights in 2004 and created The Hope Project following the Japanese Tsunami of 2011.
A recurrent contributor to the Canadian Musician Magazine, among others, he also published the book A
Journey Beyond Ourselves in 2017, is the co-owner of Hopeful Tragedy Records along with his bandmate Jeff Beaulieu, is co-founder of The
Upper Room Studio and is the founder of the conceptual creative group The Fabrik. A baseball fanatic and a counterculture kook, Foster also has two dogs and likes to simply be called Alex.
For all the latest Alex Henry Foster tour, music news and more, go to:
https://alexhenryfoster.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/alexhenryfosterofficial/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/alexhenryfoster
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Twitter: https://twitter.com/alexhfoster
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/3xxV7Humr8VBXGhNNbyWoY?si=6Wae13BLT0SWOhvRIv0vdQ
Apple Music: https://music.apple.com/ca/artist/alex-henry-foster/924940879
Bandcamp: https://alexhenryfoster.bandcamp.com/
Hopeful Tragedy Records Store: https://htrstore.com/
