Lyric driven folk rock with horns, organs, guitars, pianos, and mischief. With your backing we can spread it far and wide.
Last winter’s historic snowfall in the Northeast brought many slow days and cold nights. After the last plow went down my street and the ice had melted, I found myself with a collection of new songs ready to be recorded. And that collection of recordings became my new album How Cruel That Hunger Binds! I’m very proud of this album, and I’m looking forward to sharing it with you right here through Kickstarter. If you decide to back this project here on Kickstarter you will have the album before anyone else, and will be instrumental in spreading it far and wide.
To start, I enlisted the help of a good friend, and one of my favorite people to play music with, Zachariah Hickman [Josh Ritter, Ray LaMontagne, Rose Cousins] to help guide the recording as the producer and bass player. We worked on arrangements, made demos, and started planning the overall shape of the album. We packed the car and set out to record eleven tracks with guitars, pianos, organs, drums, marimba, trumpet, saxophones, clarinet, and so much more. We spent a week in May recording at Great North Sound Society with Sam Kassirer [Josh Ritter, Lake Street Dive]. Sam engineered the whole session in addition to playing keys of all kinds, piano, organ, Wurlitzer, and Rhodes.
Dominic Billet [Andrew Combs, Toy Soldiers] drove up from Pennsylvania to play drums and percussion. Alec Spiegelman [Cuddle Magic] showed up a few days in to play woodwinds. Lucy, the four legged engineer, oversaw the whole production and made sure we took plenty of walks to keep our heads clear.
We returned to Boston to put the final touches on the album. Zachariah did overdubs at his home studio, two of my all time favorite singers Mark Erelli and Amy Correia sang harmony, and Lyle Brewer played electric guitar.
The tracks were sent to be mixed on the West Coast by Brandon Eggleston [Modest Mouse, The Mountain Goats] and brought back to Boston to be mastered by Jeff Lipton and Maria Rice at Peerless Mastering. Here is the final track listing:
ABOUT THE COSTS
The studio, the producer, the band, engineers, mixing, and mastering costs around $10,000. The photography and design costs about $500. Printing the CD’s costs about $1,500. I have budgeted $3,000 for Kickstarter fees and for the cost of fulfilling the rewards. If we are able to reach the stretch goal of $20,000 I will be able to hire a publicist who will be able to put the album on the radar of reviewers, writers, and radio DJ’s who might dig it.
REWARD DETAILS & SAMPLES
“Annie Deer” Pin design:
Sample of handwritten lyrics:
Everyone involved in the making of this album brought their unique talent, inspiration, and hard work to the project. I am currently working very hard to get the artwork, packaging, and manufacturing complete. There are several hurdles left to clear, but the lion’s share of the work is done. If the project is successfully funded here on Kickstarter, you will have the download of the album in your inboxes by the end of May and the physical copies and the rest of the rewards by the end of July. We’re looking forward to sharing this album with you.
Thank you so much for listening and for considering joining. If you have any questions, please write to me at dietrich.strause@gmail.com.