UPDATE:
$12,000 Reached! Stretch Goal: $16,000!
Amazing! We made our goal and still have 15 days left to go with our campaign. We are really humbled and moved. Thanks to each and everyone of you for showing us how much you care about our music.
We now have the wonderful opportunity to expand the scope of our project by adding a stretch goal.
NEW GOAL: $16,000
If we raise $16,000 we will not only make the studio CD that we have already conceived of, but also an additional "Acoustic" CD. The idea for this came to us after a show that Josh and I played on KPFA a few months ago, (The Hear and Now with Derk Richardson). We were lucky enough to get a recording of the in-studio concert we did and were thrilled with the beauty of the stripped down instrumentation - piano, cello and voice. It occurred to us that it would be great to have a companion CD of songs - some of them stripped-down versions of songs from the studio album, but also different songs that won't fit on the studio album. The second CD would be more or less in the style of that great show from the 90's: MTV Unplugged: no frills, just beautiful recordings of the raw performance. By packaging it with the studio album it will be much more affordable to replicate and will round out the project beautifully!
Let's do it!!!!
"Is Fortune a Wheel" the Album
My name is Monica Pasqual and I'm so happy to connect with you about my next project. Written and composed almost entirely in the last few months, it will be my 5th album, not including the 8 that I recorded with Blame Sally. I am fortunate to be collaborating with Josh McClain, a wonderfully creative cellist, who is helping me push the songs to surprising and beautiful places.
The working title of the new album is "Is Fortune a Wheel," based on a new song that was inspired by a chance encounter with a Gypsy woman in the hills above Granada, Spain. As with most of my songs, inspiration came from a strong visual image that was seared onto my brain. The image became words and music, the words and music translated a feeling into story and meaning. In this way a whole album's worth of material has been written in the last few months and brought to life with the help of Josh and percussionist, Pam Delgado.
The album will be recorded this year and available by late 2014 or early 2015!
Where You Come In
That's where Indiegogo fits in the picture. If you believe in us as artists, you can invest directly in our project to help bring it to fruition. Because we are not beholden to a label or money with strings attached, raising funds through Indiegogo gives us the freedom to create exactly the music we want.
How the Funds Will be Used
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The best way you can help us complete this album is to contribute and to share our campaign igg.me/at/isfortuneawheel with friends and social media. Do you have a blog or radio show? Contact us!
What do YOU Get?
Perks! We come to you with the proverbial hat in hand, but also with a big gypsy cart full of treasures that we're towing behind us. We are really excited to offer classes, experiences, artwork, concerts and, of course, the CD itself. Got an idea for a perk you don't see here? Contact us and we'll talk!
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A Little Background
If you know me there's a good chance it's because of Blame Sally, a project that started in my living room almost 14 years ago and took me and my bandmates all over the US and Europe. We recorded 7 albums, landed a major record deal, recorded a PBS Special, won several Independent Music Awards and played many major festivals, co-billing with the likes of Richard Thompson, Los Lobos, Lucinda Williams, Roseanne Cash and many, many more.
During that same period I also recorded a solo album, "This Cold Desire", which was awarded 2 Independent Music Awards and I won several Emmy Awards for commercial music I created with BZ Lewis. It was an awesome run, but halfway through 2013 Blame Sally decided it was time to take a creative break.
At about the same time Blame Sally was winding down the touring, I met a young cellist named Josh McClain through a mutual friend who believed we might like each other's music. That was an understatement. I was immediately captivated by Josh's musical passion and his mastery of the cello. As soon as we sat down to make music together it felt very natural and effortless, as if we had always played together. Josh moved into the basement apartment below my flat, which was totally conducive to deepening our friendship and our musical connection. These days, if we aren't explicitly practicing and creating together, we are listening to each other through the heating vents and floor boards, resulting in a kind of musical osmosis.
Before long, Josh and I had formed a new project called Monica Pasqual and the Handsome Brunettes, which includes Pam Delgado, also of Blame Sally. Pam brings her incredible musical instincts to the table, pushing the music both rhythmically and harmonically. Plus she's a good hang. And Josh is teaching her how to box.
MATI ROSE LIMITED EDITION ARCHIVAL PRINT AVAILABLE AT $100 LEVEL
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Strings in My Human Heart
There’s the train
There are stairs down the hill
There’s a pig in a yard and a dog that barks
There’s the sun
It looks different up here
The light on the stone where I set my foot
There’s that house
Set behind the rock wall
All the windows are tall, mostly covered in vines
All the lives
That have walked on those floors
I want to know more, I want to know more
There are strings in my human heart
That can pull apart, they can pull apart
I could leave everything I know
I could let it go, I could just let go
There’s a bench at the end of her street
No park and no grass, where the men sit and smoke
I pass by, but I don’t ever pause
I waive, I don’t talk, Though I want to know more
There’s a gate and it keeps me outside
I press my face up against the cracks
In the garden sits an empty chair
I can see myself there, I can see myself there
There are strings in my human heart
That can pull apart, they can pull apart
I could leave everything I know
I could let it go, I could just let go
About the Players
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Monica Pasqual is the winner of six Independent Music Awards and six Emmy Awards. Her song ‘Bird in Hand’ charted on both Americana and Roots Radio and was among the top 10 Folk Radio songs for 2011. Her songs have been used on numerous network television shows and she has composed soundtracks for PBS, The History Channel and National Geographic Television. For the last 13 years Monica has been a member of the popular Bay Area Band, Blame Sally, touring the US and Europe extensively and releasing 8 albums and a DVD. Her 2010-released solo album garnered her two Independent Music Awards.
About This Cold Desire:
"Solo her sweet, clear voice dominates an album full of dreamy pop with some distinct Gallic and Spanish touches...acoustic pop/rock with a distinctly feminine sensibility. It's beautiful stuff." East Bay Express
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Josh McClain wields his cello with an unbridled expressiveness combined with precise intonation and musicality. With his roots in Indiana, McClain earned a degree in Folklore and Ethnomusicology at Indiana University, but soon after found himself infected with the wandering bug. He taught martial arts and music in Nigeria before moving to Japan to teach English, study martial arts and perform music for a year. In late 2012 he moved to the Bay Area and was soon named RAW Natural Born Artist of the year in San Francisco. Josh has shared the stage with AJ Croce, the legendary Hawaiian folk singer Jon Osorio, Over the Rhine, and Monica Pasqual, among others.
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Pam Delgado is perhaps best known for her role in Blame Sally where she is a lead singer, writer and percussionist. Her unbridled joy and passion have made her an incredibly compelling performer who connects with audiences all over the US and Europe. Her song, "Water" was featured on KFOG's Local Scene CD and has been a staple on KFOG's Morning Sunrise program with Rosalee Howarth. Pam has performed with Jill Knight, Corinne West, Jessie Turner and many others including her favorite partner in crime, Jeri Jones of the Pam and Jeri Show.
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