A gift from Alex Henry Foster! The new Lavender Sky EP for FREE!

I hope you and your loved ones are doing well! It’s been pretty alive and moving fast around here since we started to get ready for the Lavender Sky direct-to-vinyl live concert last week! It’s been a huge blessing for us to share such a journey, which started as a musical one and became something much greater as we evolved all together through the process. It was with a lot of humility and serenity that we gathered every time and expressed ourselves through the song. It hasn’t been an easy process, to be honest with you.

We had to dig deeper every single time in order to musically express the emotions we were all living. It’s never easy to get into the right spirit or state of mind. Alex Henry being very sensitive about what’s happening all over the world right now, the jams leading to the concert were quite intense in feelings, heavy in meaning, but it got us all closer, as we were all fighting together, our strength residing in the measure of let go we are able to share with each other.

In the previous email I sent you, I was having this conversation with Alex Henry about the reason his songs are never quite the same and how they always evolve as we grow and let go...! That conversation kept going on for hours afterward, especially as we all felt somehow different after the live broadcast. We opened up about just how privileged we are to be able to share such moments with you, and how amazingly touching and inspiring your comments and messages were as well.

It was important for us to offer an open invitation to everyone looking not only for a safe place to scream out loud and for everybody to feel welcome. We needed to take an instant to reflect on the compassion we need to offer others, on the healing power of forgiveness, and the faith we need to keep to make you feel home, for at least a brief moment.

In fact, a few hours after the band’s live performance, the conversation circled back to the new incarnation of Lavender Sky, its origin as a song, its new musical and lyrical expansion. Disruption... Trigger pulled… From a stranger to another… To keep our faith in what doesn’t feel any better… Those are heavy personal words and even if we don’t always understand what Alex Henry is going through, we can feel just how fundamental it is for him to reach the light and to share its halo with us and with you all...

And as the conversation ended, I asked Alex if I could share the original song meaning with you! He obviously agreed, mentioning how this connection between us is precious and meaningful. He only had one condition, which was to offer you the entire EP "Lavender Sky" as a gift before its official release on Friday.

So here’s the link for your free digital Lavender Sky EP, my friends!

WHAT GAVE BIRTH TO THE SONG LAVENDER SKY

"I had the song’s title for quite a while before I started writing the initial lyrics. “Lavender Sky” is my own personal way to describe the absolutely magnificent display of variations in the purple and pink sky I was blessed to witness every single evening while living in Tangier.

That sky was somehow reflecting an invitation to release my father’s memory by accepting his death and finally being able to mourn him, to make peace with whatever I have experienced in the past and needed to admit to myself that no matter how complex of a lie I could believe, I’d never be able to move on with my life until I finally acknowledged the profound sadness I fed my existence and therefore my loved ones with. That was the lyrical starting point of the song; acceptance.

But soon after starting the recording production, the initial lyrics sounded somehow distant, frigid and cold. It wasn’t the emotions in themselves that were off, but a certain fatigue in the way I was approaching what they truly meant to me. So I decided to put the song aside for a while. I didn't want to force words and production ambitions to anything I’m giving life to, even though I particularly liked the original lyrics. But I'd rather have an instrumental song or cut it off the record than know I turned it into a “Let's find a nice way to fit those nice words into that nice song” kind of writing session.

It’s only weeks later while preparing the tracks for the final mix that I started rewriting the lyrics based on a more “dynamic” approach. Instead of insisting on the words, I focused on their meaning, their intentions… only to ended up recording the vocal track less than an hour after. That new spark would be my admission of fear and everything we do to cover its implications. I then focused on a larger perspective, in the sensation of being rootless individuals, no matter what we do or whatever we may put our faith in…

“From a stranger to another”… That became the heart of the song, a few single words by which I could not only express how remote I feel to others but also how distant I maintain myself from every emotions I was living, but greatly denying deep within… and from expressing those very simple words, I was able to feel rather than thoughtfully process every single other words of the song… from affective sterility to heartfelt honesty."

- Alex Henry Foster

Thanks for taking the time to read these emails! Feel free to email me back if you have any questions or comments of all kinds...! I'll be delighted to read you!

Enjoy the music!

Your host and friend,
- Jeff