Canadian Musician / Producer / Composer Alex Henry Foster Revisits “From The City To The Ocean”

Announces “Defying Gravity” European Tour This Fall

Stream the studio version of “From The City To The Ocean” here.

“From The City To The Ocean” EP available here.

Alex Henry Foster, the Montreal-based musician/author/entrepreneur and former frontman of the post-rock band Your Favorite Enemies, today released an EP with three different variations of the song “From The City To The Ocean.” Your Favorite Enemies originally released the track in 2014 on their album Between Illness and Migration, which earned a nomination for “Rock Album of the Year” at Canada’s Juno Award and was a Music Canada Certified Gold album. 

Foster wrote “From The City To The Ocean” based on the opening line of the poem “Man and The Sea” by 19th century French poet Charles-Pierre Baudelaire: ““Free man, you will always love the sea.”  

“I have always been fascinated by the nature of the sea, the ocean, its redeeming grace and its implacable power, its freedom of movement,” said Foster. “I almost drowned as a kid. Maybe that’s where the fascination goes back to. It’s paradoxical because I’m truly the product of a big city. I grew up in what looks like huge soulless apartment complexes, which for me reflected the same nature as the ocean somehow… Where can you drown yourself? Where can you find yourself suffocating? Where can you lose yourself choking? For me, there was a very intriguing parallel between the two elements.”

The EP released today begins with a four and a half minute newly recorded studio version of the song, followed by a live rehearsal version (the “Upper Room Rehearsal”) and a version recorded live at the venue De Kouter in Bocholt, Belgium on November 16, 2025 and released in physical form on Record Store Day last month, with the 200 copies selling out in less than 2 hours. 

Foster will return to Europe this fall with his “Defying Gravity” tour. Dates kick off November 26 in Munich and extend through December 12 in Paris with stops throughout Switzerland, Denmark, Poland, additional German dates, and The Netherlands. A full list of dates are below.

Alex Henry Foster, who grew up in the tenements of Montreal, has since become an author, artist, entrepreneur and human rights advocate, holding firm to a belief that music, art and community are inseparable. Foster, who co-owns record label Hopeful Tragedy Records and co-founded the multimedia complex Upper Room Studio in a former cathedral, opened Drummond Vinyl, a record pressing plant in 2023. His reach extends to lifestyle brands, with Fabrik, a conceptual creative group from which clothing collections and a jewelry brand emerged, as well as La Maison de Tanger, a boutique hotel in Tangier, Morocco. Throughout his career, Foster has advocated for human rights, speaking out about racism, street gang violence, child soldiers, and mental health, collaborating with Amnesty International and War Child among others.

Foster will soon reveal a new project on the horizon for 2026 and beyond.

Defying Gravity Tour

NOVEMBER

26th - Germany, Munich - Kranhalle 

28th - Switzerland, Aarau - Kiff 

DECEMBER

1st  - Germany, Hamburg - Nochtspeicher

3rd - Germany, Berlin - Mikropol 

5th - Poland, Poznan - Blue Note 

6th - Poland, Warsaw - Hybrydy 

7th - Czech Republic, Prague - Café V Iese 

8th - Germany, Dusseldorf - Ratinger Hof 

9th - Netherlands, Nijmegen - Merleyn 

11th - Netherlands, Zoetermeer - Boerderij

12th - France, Paris - Nouveau Casino