“Corner House fashions itself as an ekphrasis poem, reflecting the world and all its bumps, bruises and beauty through carefully arranged and meaningful original songs and tunes of the folk tradition. In this stellar group of song and tune writers who reflect their times and culture as their heroes before them, spirited songwriting, dynamic oldtime groove, and award-winning instrumentalists combine to create a fresh, raw sound.”
Our creativity and inspiration is rooted in our upbringings, experiences in the world, and questions and musings of the universe. Coming from places in the south, mid-west, rural upstate NY, the north of Scotland, processing growing up with religion and lgbtq+ identity, relationships, family, and reflecting on our impact and place on this earth, we join together at the dinner table over a meal we create together or in a close knit musical huddle to discuss and share on these things. As a melting pot of composers coming from traditions in Old Time, Celtic, Bluegrass, and New England Contra Dance, this year of touring was our litmus test. And fortunately the premise proved true; as we played shows for weeks on end, the band really began to gel and the “Corner House sound” truly started to coalesce. Now with a year of shows behind us, and an initial recorded offering out in the world, we feel it’s time to put out a debut full length record of the band. A collection of music that presents us to the best of its and our abilities, our thesis statement for the band.
“Corner House’s music is thoughtful and inspired…points straight in the direction of where roots music is headed, and it’s a great and bright destination.” – Bruce Molsky
We’re incredibly excited about the music that’s going on this record. We hope to create a mature, fully realized collection of music that tells a story with pacing and dynamics, and presents Corner House in the best possible light. One of the first steps in making a record like this is being able to focus on playing the music in the moment, and to that end we’re very excited to be recording at Fiddlehead Studios on Mayne Island, BC, Canada, with Adam Iredale-Gray of Aerialists and Fish and Bird engineering. We feel that this retreat style recording situation will allow us all to focus in on the making of the record in the best possible way, while also being inspired by the beauty of the landscape we will be in. We’re also incredibly excited to be working with a producer for the first time, harpist/composer/educator Maeve Gilchrist. Previously we’ve relied on each other to reinforce our musical decisions; while this time we’ll be privy to Maeve’s agile musical mind. We hope this record will present us all in our best light, and thoroughly incorporate all our influences. While we’ve done a lot of this work on the road, we don’t feel we have finished developing yet (and hopefully never will be) and our hope is that this record and Maeve’s guidance for this time helps to solidify that process.
“These fine musicians and lovely people think about each note they make and it comes together in something bigger. Simply beautiful music.” – Maeve Gilchrist
Collectively, we have the skills to mix/record, create artwork, and run a PR campaign for this record. However, this Kickstarter campaign will enable us to invest our time in the most important part: making the music the best it can be, without having to divert our attention away from how it sounds in order to accomplish these administrative tasks. With help towards these costs, we will be able to employ a highly skilled producer, visual artist, and engineer who will achieve the best possible results for us while leaving us more time to create the music.
Your generous donations go towards:
The total budget for this project will clock in at around $33,000. We’re setting our goal at $22,000, and will announce stretch goals as we approach that line. We would be so grateful if you would consider helping us towards making this happen and we are excited to have some fun things to offer in return for your support!
Full budget breakdown:
As long as we meet our goal, this music is coming for you! There’s a lot of logistics to pull together but we’re confident we can make it all happen. The session is booked and we’re actively working on the music as well as the other aspects of making a record. As I’m sure you’re aware, times right now are quite difficult as COVID-19 creates difficulties for traveling. There’s a small possibility that our logistics could be affected by this, but we will keep you updated as to our progress as we know more.