🍂 Alex Shares How the Lyrics of “Winter Is Coming In” Came to Life + So Much More…

Hey,

I hope you’re doing well and had a great first week of November as much as I did, having the chance to be with Alex & The Long Shadows down in Virginia for almost two weeks already...! I have a love-hate relationship with our gatherings around new music, as we’ve been together for more than a decade already, and things haven’t always been built around rainbows and classic rockstar fairy tales…! It’s quite the opposite actually!

But last week went well and I feel like we’re slowly headed somewhere we’ll all be very proud of and excited about in the end. It was especially pretty exciting from last Tuesday onward, as I started to receive a lot of messages from you about the new vinyl we will release on November 16. 

I read them all to the whole band and it truly created something genuinely exciting for us all! So, since this is happening next week, I wanted to share Alex’s personal insights about the song. Where did it come from? How did it materialize itself? In what state of mind was he when he wrote it? 

Here it is exclusively for you! :) Please, read until the very end, there’s a few cool surprises from Alex!

THE STORY BEHIND THE SONG - PART 1

"I don’t have much of a writing method when it comes to lyrics, for the fact that I usually have to complete enough of a song’s body in the same draft to actually consider adding it to my writing book. I always find it difficult to trust an emotion that requires sessions and sessions of writing and rewriting. I’m not talking about looking for the right word or defining a more honest way of expressing myself - this comes in the “live” writing sessions. But I never really insist if I’m unable to find what I call the source. But sometimes, not finding this source haunts me. And “Winter Is Coming In” is one of those songs…

The amount of time I must have spent musing, contemplating, struggling and raging for that song only is probably too intense to even remember, if only glimpses of it all. I would wake up in the middle of the night to write a few ideas, get up before sunrise to feel the new lights, write all night to avoid any over-thinking analysis, go to a cafe or stay in my little room, go to a public place, and on, and on, and on. I probably wrote a version of that song in every possible place available and unavailable known in Tangier.

I was obsessed with “authenticity”, the measure of consciousness it requires to be honest, the nature of redemption, the meaning of being free, contrition, confession, the difference between hope and truth… Hearing the calls to prayer 5 times a day, I could see my father smiling on his deathbed, believing in an upcoming Godly ordained healing miracle as I was wondering what was left of my own faith. So I wrote and kept on writing. Start, rip it off, start again… The only thing that recurrently stayed was “I have lost my senses” - probably because I most definitely had. Until I didn’t write no more, out of energy and unable to find the source. Therefore, I observed and listened. 

A very good friend wrote to me during that period, reminding me that it’s been a while since she had any news from me, that she was there to listen if I needed to talk, mentioning that it must be difficult for me to face that everlasting storm I seem to have lived in most of my life, concluding with: “I would like to say winter is coming to an end for you, but it almost seems as if it’s the only thing that makes sense to you now.” And it really caught me off guard, as I’m a private person and very rarely let anyone come close enough to be able to “touch” me. I didn’t know what to think of her message… Was I supposed to feel violated? Supported? Loved? Pitied? Wasn’t I avoiding all those personal questions and reflections the reason for my exile in Tangier, after all...?" 

To be continued…  

NEW FALL COLLECTION

Alex has been above and beyond from a creative standpoint during these past few weeks, spending countless hours on numerous projects simultaneously! So, on Wednesday November 16, at 10 am Eastern Time, as we’ll be releasing the new vinyl Winter Is Coming In, we’ll also launch this amazing AHF fall collection exclusively for The Club Members! 

I will send every package option, details and prices to you next Tuesday, 24h before everything goes live so you won’t have to rush too much since you’ll already know what items you want. 

I’m inviting you to take a look at the entire AHF new fall collection right now on The Club’s Instagram profile here! 

LAST BUT NOT LEAST

The Club will have a mobile app starting next week!!! I’ll send more details to you during the upcoming days but it will be FREE for the New School as well as the Old School members! :) 

We’ll all be more connected..! And in a great way! :) See you next week! 

Your Friend and Host!
Jeff