Dear Friends and listeners!
We are finally ready to embark on recording our collaborative project Salt Minds!
A little Bit About us:Mariee
Sioux and Sean Kae are songwriters from California who have been
partners and playing music together for the past 5 years.
Mariee
Sioux has been playing original folk music under her name for the past 8
years, releasing two full length records. She started playing throughout
the US with her acoustic guitar at age 20. She's since
extensively toured Europe, gaining a lot of love in France.
Sean has accompanied her in her backup band on 2 European and US tours during a time when Mariee did not want to play her songs alone anymore.
They have been establishing songs together for the past 2 years and are
ready to share their collaborative creations with the gracious help of
friends and listeners.
Sean Kae has been songwriting and playing music for the past 10 years with a menagerie of
friends. He recorded an album of his own songs titled "O, Thresher", produced Mariee's last record "Gift for the End", and played various
instruments with many Bay Area favorites.
Along with performing he has
also put on local festivals in Marin County and has often helped
musicians book shows for free if they needed the help. In the area, He's
known as a favorite musician, communicator, activist, friend, and a
true eccentric and weirdo- in the best way.
What We Want To Do
Recording
an album together as "Salt Minds" has been a dream of ours for years.
It's a challenge to write a good song and then record it well, but it's a
sometimes an even greater challenge and gift to be able to sit down and write moving,
memorable songs with a lover.
We look back at many albums throughout the
decades that were made between lovers and see a unique and powerful
magic within them, even when they are really cheesy.
Our joint
songwriting attempts to weave a diverse landscape of imagery that
discusses the modern world and its predicaments. We hope to send a
message of the severe necessity for our generation to start participating in
supporting one another. Some songs fringe on apocalyptic references and
touch on how disturbing and potentially irreversible the decimation of
nature has been under the watch of man.
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Our intention with the actual
sound of this record is to meld the analog warmth of older synthesizers
and acoustic instruments with modern effects and recording techniques, using somewhat classic folk sounds that bend and morph into futuristic realms.
In general, we would say this is musically going to be a pretty dark
record, with a lyrical message of hope and empathy,
As far as
influences to help you imagine this- it would range very widely. From
the enthusiastic, morbid political truths of Phil Ochs to the ambient
sounds of Kitaro and Emerald Web, to the vocals of Enya and Dead Can
Dance.
But we hope to create something that is truly original, and a sincere part of this time period, while still keeping true to the past
and natural instrumentation.
Another real goal here is to bring musicians together, create together, adding the minds of many to the final product, so it is truly a work of art that has no owner. We have also just confirmed working with the amazing Kat Epple from the New Age band Emerald web !! <3
The two are also not new to the recording
process, Sean Kae helped in producing Mariee Sioux's second studio
album "A Gift for the End". They know how to work together, and love reaching out to others to include them in the creation!
We could use your help, and we're eager to create and share these songs and sounds with you!
(A song from Gift for the End recorded by Mariee and Sean below)
What We Need & What You Get
• We are asking for $5,000! Now, you could easily spend much much more than this recording an album, but we want to keep it as homespun as possible (recording with friends, not hiring a producer, not spending months at a studio, but rather in a friends home etc...). This is to help us cover some main costs,
but most importantly, it will go towards making sure no musicians have
to play for free (approx $2,500 of budget)! It's important that we all support each other, to be
able to make music AND eat together ;)
.
Other money will
be going towards room and board
for people working on the record, gear rental, and general expenses one runs across in recording (approx $2,000). We will mix the album ourselves to save a lot of $ and then will have it professionally mastered (between $500-$700). (Funds for making the perks will come out of our pocket, unless we were to greatly surpass our goal!)
- If we surpass our goal of $5,000 it will only make this project an easier and smoother experience, with more flexibility, more options, and allowing an even more elaborate final product of our vision <3. So if you can please don't hesitate to donate if we have already reached our goal.
- We think we have some sweet
perks. Check them out. Talk to us If you want to mix and match/ make a
deal. It's no problem- you're giving us money so we will do anything you
want us to.
- You will be supporting the creation of a truly unique album! You will be making it possible for a long time dream of ours come into sonic reality! You will get cool one of a kind things! We will be eternally grateful!
- If we don't reach the goal, we'll use the money gathered and make do - get some regular jobs to save up more or whatever it takes to make this album a reality and as sweet as humanly and digitally possible- it must be done!
How Else You Can Contribute !!
- Even
if you cannot help financially, your support would be greatly
appreciated by spreading the word of this campaign and project! Email
your friends, share on your cyber swirling galaxy of social media sites!! Have some blogger friends post about our campaign! Bother your
loved ones and friends with incessant spamming of our link! Send Positive vibes. Thank you so much.