Fragile Beauty – the latest stage in the evolution of Alex Henry Foster.

DREAMS AND GHOSTS

When you see an Alex Henry Foster track that heads into a double figure timezone, it’s time to get excited. That’s exactly what Of Dreams And Ghosts does in a sprawling incantation that sees Alex heading into the familiar territory that we know and love. One where a commotion of sound and intonation hover like ever-darkening clouds on the horizon. Increasingly intense and desperate – some redemption in the from of an angelic chorus breaks through…but – we’re getting ahead of the game.

The backstory to his latest creation involves the aftermath of heart surgery and healing and two collections of music in Kimiyo and A Measure Of Shape And Sound. His latest experience completely rewired his brain and sees Alex declaring “I was completely lost and I had to reinvent myself. I had to rebuild myself as an artist to be in the context of the now.” 

OTHERWORLDY

The otherworldly hum and shimmer that introduces the The Fragile Beauty comes in the shape of the haunting Siren’s Call. Another sign that all is going to be ok. Safe hands are present in the room. The sort of stark ambience embellished by mournful brass sounds that we know and love, paves the way for something explosive as he croons of “the end within the end.”

The healing experience has given birth to a startling exploration of culture, prayer and language. All accompanied and guarded by a contrasting combination of soothing and radical soundscapes. A Spoken Whisper combines the sonic crafting and spacious vocals, moving into some more aggressive and challenging areas. Distortion and freeform disrupting any sort of order.

“Springtime what I have I done to you?” implores Alex in some degree of desperation as New Morning Hope merges into Springtime. The latter whose ominous tolling of bells and urgency, invokes the confusion of being inside his body. As a standalone Rock song, it might convert the unbelievers and open doors to the wonderful world of The Fragile Beauty. An insistent drum pattern leads, decorated by reverb guitar and rapidly delivered vocal lines.

EMBRACING THE NEW

Calling Out!, the second single, is guided by an equally urgent bassline and describes his reluctant process of re-imagining his life and recovery by embracing the challenge. What he calls “the ‘call-out’ from people’s affection and their healing love, a process that could only take place once I decided to embrace who I had become and to accept the new reality of what it implied.” It’s Alex Henry Foster possibly at his most aggressive with a wildly undulating and raw Rock song. A track that captures his insistence that he revisit his pain to make the purest, most intimate version of the song.  He believes Calling Out! to be “an essential element to the narrative cohesion of the whole record.” Some way, by some distance, from the cinematic raptures of the past.

We’ve come all this way, almost to the end of the review, without uttering the word ‘cathartic’. Perhaps the ideal moment to square off the circle and return to getting lost in the winding majesty of Of Dreams And Ghosts. The choral voices adding a spiritual quality as all sorts of significant lyrical phrases surface amidst sweeps of strings. Yes, The Fragile Beauty allows us to share in a reinvention; Alex’s reinvention and his acceptance of the inevitability of change.

“I wondered, when I came back, if everything I did would be a copy of what I did before,” he says. However, th ejoy lies in witnessing Alex embrace his new self instead of the fear of losing something innate. Simply put, just another evolution and with an eye on the bigger picture, a lesson for us all about making peace with yourself in each life you live.

Here’s Calling Out:

Alex Henry Foster: Website

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