End of Day One & a Kickstarter "Project We Love"
over 1 year ago
– Tue, Oct 25, 2022 at 03:51:31 PM
This has been a tremendous first day! I speak from the depths of my heart when I say an emphatic THANK YOU. I've received such overwhelming, amazing support from friends, family, and fellow artists today! In under twelve hours, we sold out of the Early Bird Blood Marigold rewards (still some Early Bird Ascend Bundles available), hit over 4x our funding goal, AND earned the coveted "Project We Love" accolade from Kickstarter!
I am humbled and overwhelmed by your support. To be honest, I was really nervous about launching this project to crickets. "Mystical poetry performed as an occult ritual, recorded live with cello and released by an experimental metal label" is ... a very niche audience. While I am proud of being on the Neurot label, and absolutely in love with Lori's and David's work on the record, I genuinely wondered what kind of reception it would get.
And this is just the beginning!
With 22 days left in the Kickstarter campaign I'm excited to see where this goes. I hadn't planned on any stretch goals, but with today's reception I am re-visiting that decision...
In the meantime, your enthusiastic support in sharing is as important as your backing. Please share this project with any fellow weirdos whom you think might enjoy getting trancy with the record.
Also, if you haven't already done so definitely check out other work from Lori and David:
I am so excited to have each of you a part of this project, and I'll be using these updates to keep you posted as we ascend together. Thanks for helping us celebrate the birth of this record into the world!
Love,
Janaka
FUNDED! Welcome & Thank You
over 1 year ago
– Tue, Oct 25, 2022 at 07:40:59 AM
Funded in 20 minutes!?
Wow wow wow, thank you all so much for your immediate enthusiasm and interest in this project! I was drafting this welcome post and didn't even have a chance to hit "publish" before the project was already funded!
Thank You Thank You Thank You
When I first published Ascend Ascend I had no idea so many amazing artists would engage with and respond to it: from iconic illustrators like Daniel Martin Diaz (who made the 2019 tour poster) and Aaron Horkey (who provided an illustration for the book cover), to legendary musicians like Jimmy Page, Mark Korven, and Lori Goldston—to incredibly talented personal friends Adam Beckley (who composed the score for my solo live performances) and K Lenore Siner (who illustrated the Fulgur Press edition in the UK). In March of 2020, I had just wrapped up the first two seasons of touring when my plans for expanding the work were cut short by the pandemic. I had other festivals and expanded multimedia performances in the works, and in the span of a few weeks they all were paused, then shelved, then dissolved …
The announcement of this record feels like giving Ascend Ascend a new life. Not only am I proud (and somewhat amazed) by the improvised live performance Lori Goldston and I gave at the All Pilgrims Church in Seattle back in 2019—which is captured on this record—but I’m excited to perform the work again in a new limited series of engagements produced by Atlas Obscura in 2023. Performing Ascend Ascend feels like communion; it feels like an annunciation—like I become an instrument in deep dialogue of ecstasis, love, and terror with the universe.
I miss that ecstasy. I miss being in a room with others, sharing breath with others. I miss going inward and breaking open and laughing and crying with others. This record is a document of that time, in the ‘before times,’ when we would gather without a second thought of breathing the breath of strangers and surrender to the pure moment. It’s also a map back into that moment. When I listen to the recording I find myself going into that space. I think you will too.
This Kickstarter is your only chance to pick up a digital download of the album—and one of very few chances to acquire some of the other limited edition ephemera I’ve worked with Neurot Recordings, illustrator David V. D’Andrea, and Third Man Records & Books to create. It’s also a chance to secure your place in the room during one of the final handful performances of this work produced by Atlas Obscura in 2023.
I hope you’ll join us!
Love,
Janaka
