Alex and I Would Like to Thank You! 

Hey,

I hope you’re doing well! It’s Sunday morning, a little past 9am to be very precise, and as I’m enjoying a few sips of my second cup of coffee, I couldn’t wait any longer to write down this missive to you, with José González’s 20th Anniversary Deluxe Edition making this morning even a little more unique and magical. 

Today is my last day here in Virginia, heading back to Montreal tomorrow, Monday, for three weeks before coming back with The Long Shadows to start working on new material with Alex! As pretty much all of you know, we’ve been impatiently waiting for this moment for so long, and we are all so grateful to realize we’re right at the doorstep of what seemed so far out when the year started. There’s no better way to end 2023, which has been quite a hard year to go through. But as I’m putting those words down I’m realizing even more, how, for us over the years, three things always ended up bringing us powerfully back on our feet; friendship, the idea that our best song hasn’t been written yet, and the best part, you my friends! 

The entire journey around Alex’s album “Windows in the Sky” has been nothing close to a classic band journey. Everything started as something fragile, a tiny whisper thrown at me by Alex which sounded like “Let’s bring the band to Tangier, and let’s give birth to something incredible, or may Tangier be the end of the road for us as a band.” This whisper was just like a seed in Alex’s hand, it wasn’t even in the ground, we didn’t even have a clue where to plant and nurture it, but it was in his hand, in his heart, and it took roots, knowing we had each other (friendship), Alex also knew he had something powerful and relevant to give birth to (music), and some of you guys faithfully kept on writing to us, encouraging us, impatiently waiting for what was next (you)! 

From this whisper right to this morning, from this seed in Alex’s hand which contained so much life, so much to discover, embrace and enjoy… This little seed has become the most beautiful flower of our entire personal and collective garden. There was no better way for us to celebrate this chapter than to celebrate it with you, as we did last week around the vinyl “The Love That Moves”. I will never forget the very first time I heard Alex sing “I will conquer darkness and make it shine.” There were pieces of hell burning in Alex’s soul at that time and it was so hard to see those seeds taking root deeply into his gut right in front of my eyes, feeling powerless in front of such evil. So, when these words, again, came out of his mouth as a fragile whisper but became louder and louder and louder, especially during that July 2020 performance during COVID, which felt like someone or something was literally cutting our wings as things were going well for us, for once, but we couldn’t capitalize on it as we needed to stay home. Well you were there, and you showed up, and you made sure that it wasn’t just words but a real daily decision where love would not only remove those rotten roots, but bring them into a much more fertile ground where real light shines! 

This is why, this morning, after talking about it with Alex during our daily walk on the mountain with the two loves of his life, Leonard and MacKaye, we wanted to thank you! This year has been such a long and hard one for us all, with Alex’s heart surgery (which he is still recovering from), his boy MacKaye, as he likes to call him, who’s got cancer and whose condition goes up and down depending on the day, so we wanted to celebrate what brought us right here, at that specific point in time and life; love and friendship! 

“Windows in the Sky”! From “The Pain That Bonds” all the way to “The Love That Moves”, from Tangier where we were in front of nothing to today, navigating through COVID, Alex’s heart surgery, MacKaye’s cancer, in parallel with having the chance to tour in Europe three times, creating this exclusive vinyl and live performances culture, me becoming the host of The Club and building and sharing on such a human level with you all, this is what makes us who we are today. We’re entering this new season with so many question marks, but I’m confident they will all become exclamation marks! 

As we’re standing in front of that door, behind which we don't know what we will find, we have the same feelings we had when we landed in Tangier back in 2017; uncertainty, doubts, insecurity, faith, friendship, and hope. What I like the most about this journey is the fine line between what we know and what we don’t, just like life. What we know is we’re in this together, trying to figure it all out, to make the best out of it, to seek for purpose, for greatness, for good, for love, for joy, and for laughter. But we’re surrounded by so much darkness, so much uncertainty. There is so much we fear, so much we doubt, so many scars, too many maybe, but right there, between the pain that bonds and the love that moves is us, all of us, as a whole, connected now more than ever, all looking for the same thing. So, let’s open that door, and let’s keep walking into this personal and collective journey with the brightest of all lights at our feet; friendship! 

Music has the power to change the world, and Alex and I strongly believe in this, as it happens to us on a daily basis. And I’m sure it’s the same for you. But music has to be rooted into something in order to live, travel, heal, transform, sing and scream, dance and jump, kneel and praise! Let’s keep conquering darkness and making it shine as we watch the sunset over what has been – and still is – such a long year. Life is so rich and we will forever be thankful and grateful for you to be a part of it! 

SHIPPING - REMINDER

Alex and I will be doing a last journey toward Germany and Japan in order to ship all your orders on December 4th. Alex will be traveling to Frankfurt airport and I’ll be going to Narita especially for you to get your orders right before Christmas for the cheapest possible custom fees!!! 

Fingers crossed on Air Canada! 😅

GIVEAWAY - PRINT TEST - REMINDER

As we did last time around The Pain That Bonds vinyl release, I will be live on Alex’s Facebook profile on Sunday, November 26th at 10am Eastern Time for a quick draw of this more than unique work of art! There’s literally a single copy and a fortunate The Club member will have the chance to own it!

Being a member of The Club is more than enough to have your name in the hat! If you haven’t purchased something from the new collection, worry not, you have your contest ticket!

I will never say it enough: Thank you! 

Let’s be great to one another! 

Your Host and Friend, 
Jeff