Louder Than The Music

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.”