Ian Foster weaves new threads into the tapestry of N.L. music

Ian Foster sees Newfoundland music as a tapestry of many different colours and threads.

“I think sometimes artists can get caught up in intellectualizing what a place is when it comes to their music. I’ve definitely been that person.”

With the launch of his new record label, NÄRA Community, in November, concurrent with the release of his latest album, Travelogue, Foster will expand his own contribution to Newfoundland’s musical fabric.

Tony Ploughman, manager of Fred’s Records in St. John's, has described Ian as “the ultimate ‘independent’ artist” with a “cup full with curiosity.”

That independent curiosity has been evident throughout his career, from his beginnings as a singer-songwriter in the 1990s, to his later contributions to film scores. In recent years, his creative outputs have evolved into atmospheric instrumental pieces influenced by composers like Brian Eno, Olafur Arnalds, and Nils Frahm.

With the new NÄRA Community recording label, Foster seeks to provide opportunities for musicians to create what he describes as “modern cinematic music.” He emphasizes that the style is not easily pinned down.

“It is, like any good genre, so wide open in its parameters that it is willing to take in outside influences that are really disparate at times, to create something new and fresh.”

Borrowing from the Swedish word meaning “near” or “close,” Foster explains that he intends NÄRA Community to be more than a production house. He also wants NÄRA to be “a gathering place for like minds to create and collaborate under that umbrella, and for audiences to experience unique events featuring this music.”

During the label’s pilot phase, he explains, there will be some workshops in the new year, a some artists will make the visit.

"Then we’ll release a single collaboration with myself and another artist.”

To many, the concept of “Newfoundland music” evokes Irish-inflected jigs and playful folk songs. Then, bands like Figgy Duff with its windswept mysticism and the Wonderful Grand Band with its homegrown pop-rock expanded the limits of the province’s musical character.

In recent years, the Sound Symposium has provided opportunities for musicians and their audiences to create and hear music in new ways.

St. John’s musician Tiber Reardon, who makes ambient, often improvisational music, credits the Sound Symposium with an “increased openness” to innovative music that provides a more holistic sensory experience.

“In the past couple of years, multi-stimulus events are gaining interest, where you’re not just listening to music, but there are also these other inputs that are coming in.”