In late 2019, Ian Foster and Nancy Hynes took their album A Week in December on tour, starting in Ontario and moving through the Maritimes before completing eight engagements back in their home province of Newfoundland. This year, the duo is taking a different spin on touring.

Ian and Nancy have launched a digital Christmas special tour. The digital tour offers six chances to watch a pre-taped show that the duo shot at Bannerman Brewery, a local craft brewery performance space in their hometown of St. John’s, NL, complete with a baby grand piano.

“The pre-taped aspect and health and safety guidelines in Newfoundland at the time of taping allowed us to have musical guests, and the six chances to watch allowed us to co-present with venues we’d played on previous tours, including three that are fundraisers. It’s a pivot and a bit different than the average Christmas live stream.”

“Stops” on the digital tour include Toronto, St. John’s, Fredericton, Rockport, MA, Glen Morris, ON and Lewisporte, NL, and the shows include special guests Jerry Stamp, Melanie O’Brien, Brian Way and the Laings. Ticket info can be found at www.ianfoster.ca/shows

Ian has also recently shared a new single and music video for his song, “Voyager” featuring Nancy. The single will be the first taste of a new album of original songs to be released in 2021.

The ethereal song is grounded by an acoustic guitar, Ian’s voice and Nancy’s affected vocal on the choruses and outro, with flourishes of strings, taiko drums and piano. Its subject matter, though, is a little unconventional.

“I guess I’m looking to corner the market on space probe songs…” Ian joked. “I wrote the song during a residency at the Banff Centre for the Arts a few years ago. The stories of the Voyager probe are remarkable. They’re middle-aged now by our standards, and ancient in terms of their tech, but they’ve travelled further into our universe than anything else human-made and continue to teach us about ourselves. It’s a blast of perspective, and faith in what we can achieve as a species during a difficult time.”

The lyrics meditate on this idea: “Because we’re counting on you/the lens that we see through/we’re down here with the walls/you’re up there with it all.”

Ian credits a small but mighty production team that helped him achieve his musical vision: coproducer Mark Turner and mix/master engineer Scott Hammond of the Blue Room in Kilbride.

“I often work in a fair bit of isolation, which has been taken to another level this year,” Ian explained, “But Mark and Scott have helped focus the vision and provided excellent perspective for me on this one.”

“Voyager” is available for purchase on Bandcamp, is streaming on all major platforms, and is viewable in video form on YouTube. Visit here for all links.

Find Ian Foster on Bandcamp, Youtube, Facebook, Instagram and Twitter! 

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