About the Project (and the Artist)
For those of you who know me or those who don't, I'll start by saying hello... My name is Emily Afton and I am a multi-instrumentalist, singer-songwriter, and producer from San Diego. I make nostalgia-driven alt-pop that was once described by NPR as “...wonderful, wonderful electro-pop that’s weary of life, but positive.”
I have been working on this new album for the past three years; mixing old and new sounds and parts of my life together. This journey began in 2020 as we all were forced to view the world through a new lens- and has led me to my second full-length studio album with songs ranging from electropop dance anthems to emotional ballads (in other words, there is truly something for everyone here). I am very fortunate to collaborate with my phenomenal bandmates and producers, as well as an extremely talented video team with whom I have created this fundraiser, but we require your help during this last phase of fundraising!
My story as an artist began upon relocating to the Bay Area after college where I worked at a non-profit by day and performed in a band by night. One day I was performing at an art gallery in Berkeley, and the right person heard one of my songs at the right time. A stranger to me at the time (but now a dear friend), a man named Alexis approached me about submitting my song to be placed in a commercial. I said yes and within a few weeks my song was featured in a Nature Valley Granola commercial; an event that would forever change my life. It was the first time I realized that music can be a job, not just a hobby.
The Bay Area is where my project blossomed, where my band is still based, and where a substantial portion of my new album was written and recorded. But after the pandemic, I pursued something on my bucket list (moving to LA) and recorded the latter half of the album there. I am grateful to have had my creativity flourish in both the Bay and LA, but the story of this album points me in the direction of home, San Diego. It seems serendipitous that, with your help, the bookend of this creative project will take place in my hometown, where I met my videographer-collaborators at the San Diego International Film Festival while performing this past year...
Meeting the women of No Storage Productions has inspired me so much. They are bright, talented, hardworking, and unjaded; recently graduated from the San Diego State film program and ready to make an impact on the world! And I am ready to provide the music for it.
I have been able to participate in many noteworthy projects and connect with incredible people through my musical journey; experiences that Younger Me could have never imagined. I have played 40,000-person shows (at the SF Women's March in 2017), toured with Third Eye Blind, and had songs featured on TV shows that aired around the world and connected me to people from every continent! All of which has been completely surreal.
My experience as an independent artist in this world has shown me that although I am technically ‘independent’ it’s my community that continues to inspire and push me forward. When my fans are involved, everything is better. It reveals the power of doing something collectively vs alone!
Fundraising is a leap of faith! So with that, I will say: I am hopeful to see what will happen with your emotional and financial investment in this project which is so very dear to my heart!
THANK YOU.
Meet the Team
The Music Team
I have been shaping this album with my band/team, Patrick Aguirre, James Jackson, and producer Peter Labberton throughout the past three years, and it is finally almost done. After a few different metamorphoses, this album seems to have returned home to a central theme; finding your way back yourself.
Check out some of the music my team has made together over the past few years! - https://www.emilyaftonmusic.com/music
The Video Team
I am very grateful to be doing this fundraiser alongside the talented women-led video team of No Storage Productions to make a lasting visual spectacle of art out of my album!
No Storage Productions is the brainchild and production company of Sonali Chugani and Meg Darbourne, which originated during their time in the film program at San Diego State University. Their story as a video production company began while bonding over aesthetic similarities in school, always having too much work on their hard drives and never even storage space, their shared love for coming-of-age stories, the female gaze, and wanting to use storytelling to empower women in film!
No Storage has a variety of award-winning narrative works, music videos, and commercials produced over the past two years, including a music video shot on 16mm film.
Check out NSP's website for recent work samples at http://www.nostorageproductions.com
About the Album / Video
The word "circaa" comes from a book I found online which was created during the Victorian era height of Floriography (ie. the sending of secret messages via coded flower arrangements). This book depicted the names of flowers with special meanings, and the name of one flower in particular, "Circaa," stood out with just one word for a definition: spell.
I have started reflecting on and daydreaming about spells and how our society and identities are saturated with them in the form of social norms. So many of the rules of our world were made up long ago before we were born, so why should we live our lives by them?
I wrote this album during a time when I desperately needed to untangle myself from these spells; to rediscover who I was without them. For now, I am calling the album 'CIRCAA' as an ode to breaking spells and living our truths.
In the video, we plan to tell the narrative of a queer girl growing up and navigating love and life. The video will contain themes of coming of age and heartbreak.
We want to shoot this music video in San Diego as an ode to the beautiful city in which I was raised. Locations and other logistics of the video are being planned as we speak but all of our pre-production decisions are based on finances.
Challenges
As independent artists, we are in a fortunate place in our careers where we are still carving out our creative corners in the world and get to create from our hearts. We want to make a video that is striking, meaningful, and evocative which we can submit to film festivals (among other opportunities)! Every detail in the planning of said video costs money-- from costumes to makeup to renting gear to promoting the album once it's done. We have created a list of perks to invite you into our creative world and to incentivize you to contribute.
Perks
Check out our list of perks below and in the slides (to the right) for more details!
We appreciate any and all support! Thank you so much for supporting us!
xo