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. Mostly written during an exile from himself in Tangier following his father’s passing, “Windows in the Sky” 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). The album has been nominated for “Album of the Year” in Canada in 2019 and left quite the impression amongst the fans of artists that can be seen as Foster’s kindred spirits.

“Swans, Radiohead or Nick Cave? What if we could combine the results of their sounds? Then we would have Alex Henry Foster.” – Radio Trojka (PL)

“Sonic Youth meets Slint at a party hosted by Mogwai” – Silent Radio (UK)

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.

“Every note, every word, every passage had its purpose. It was Phil Spector conducting Sonic Youth and Swans, a wall of noise that tore at you while lifting on its wings.” – 3 Songs & Out (UK)

“A powerful voice, deep lyrics, and an unbelievable guitar-playing.” – DaMusic (BE)

A member of the first waves of writers to embrace the blogging medium back in 2006, Foster saw his artistic, social, and community-oriented texts translated into French, Japanese, German, and Chinese, to only name a few. A frequent columnist for the Canadian Musician bi-monthly magazine, he also published the books “A Journey Beyond Ourselves” in 2017 and “The Early Days” in 2020.

Fierce human rights advocate, Foster has been a very active public speaker over the last decade, commenting on racism, the proliferation of street gangs – in the midst of which he spent his teenage years — the resurgence of populism and identity extremism. He teamed up with Amnesty International and War Child for several campaigns. He also established a non-profit group in 2004, initiating sensibilization awareness towards children soldiers, created The Hope Project following the Tohoku Tsunami of 2011. Recently, he took part in mental health awareness initiatives and in the pressure put on Canadian authorities regarding Saudi blogger Raif Badawi.

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. He founded the conceptual creative group The Fabrik, from which bloomed several clothing collections as well as a special line of jewelry, Red Crown Crane, in collaboration with The Long Shadows’ keyboard player, Miss Isabel. In 2020, he acquired the renowned boutique hotel “La Maison de Tanger” in Tangier, Morocco, which shortly became one of the most sought-after locations for artists of all spheres. He will also open a vinyl record pressing plant in the late summer of 2023.

A real baseball fanatic and a counterculture kook, Foster is also the proud daddy of two dogs named Leonard and MacKaye… and likes to simply be called Alex.

For 2024, Alex Henry Foster collaborated with Momoka Tobari, a Japanese artist from Tokyo, established herself in Montreal 10 years ago, and his longtime creative accomplice Ben Lemelin to craft four different creative entities; the albums Kimiyo and A Measure of Shape and Sounds, the film Voyage à la Mer, and the in-public conversations & live musical improvisation affair Of Flashes and Other Currents, all due to be released over the span of 2024.