Meme

I moved to a beautiful cottage in the middle of the countryside for 12 months to hole up and write the new album. I was surrounded by wildlife... badgers lived in my garden, deer grazed in the fields, pheasants plodded past the livingroom window and bats lived in the attic - one even got into the bedroom once! I had a sunken fairy garden at the back of the house with a log bridge into the woodlands, and 2 fields walk away was a gorgeous walled garden (The Secret Garden).

This place was so inspiring and peaceful and I wrote a lot of lyrics around my theme "The seed of an idea". Inspired by the overgrown surroundings, the magic entwined in the scenery around me, and by the light of the crackling fire I penned the lyrics for this album. I wrote melodies on the guitar, bass and piano, and am now in the midst of the next stage of the journey - recording and production. The first 3 songs are ready and away to be mastered. You can have a look at the estate I lived on here: http://www.chestersestate.com.

I've had 1 very well received album "Different Skin" released on the brilliant Benbecula Records (2009), and 2 EPs "The Whispering Chamber, and "The Glory Feast" released on Summer Rain Recordings (2007 and 2008), won the "Make Your Mark in Music" award (Arts Council of England) in 2008, and was voted "Best New Music of 2008" by http://www.homegrownradionj.com

I'm now producing the new album "The Seed" and am looking at some very exciting new creative ideas for it in terms of marketing and promotion (music videos creating intrigue, treasure hunts for parts of the album using geolocator and mobile phone technology, direct marketing with mechanical music boxes etc). I have got really close to being funded by a few different grant making bodies, and feedback has been really positive, but at the end of the day I didn't get the funding. I'm damned if I'm going to let that stop me... then I found Sponsume! I love the idea that people who like the music can be part of making the album release happen.

The project is a concept album based around the seed of an idea, and how an idea can be planted and left to grow..the album will be called The Seed, and will be released in March (when seeds are planted). The first track "The Seed" will be sent out to everyone who pledges something towards the creation of the album (min £1) on 20th September.

I need some help in the form of up front purchases (before the album is complete)to cover the following costs, and help promoting this:

Cost of producing hard copy CDs
Cost of uploading to iTunes, Spotify, Amazon, etc
Mastering
Marketing costs including direct marketing, print advertising, brand identity, etc (I'm working with LEITH Records, the musical arm of LEITH, a really creative advertising agency based in Edinburgh)
Music videos
Website creation
Merchandise
Venue Hire for album launch
 

Many thanks,
Shona-Plum x

LISTEN to my music here.