Bec Bastoli

Hi everyone!

My name is Rebecca Bastoli and I am a folk musician and singer-songwriter from Sydney! I am really excited to be in the midst of planning and organising to release my debut EP. The songs are written, the band is ready to go, studio time is booked, the album art is completed - but I need your help to fund the final part of the process: the recording and production of the EP itself!

A BIT ABOUT ME
After a musical childhood spent in choirs, church band, and playing flute and piano, the beginning of my current journey came at 16 when I went to my first folk festival: the National Folk Festival in Canberra! As they say, the rest is history! Since then I’ve been going to as many folk festivals as I can and soaking up as much music as possible. My tastes broadened as I became exposed to more and more amazing musicians and styles. I have been incredibly inspired in my songwriting by the standard of music in these communities and encouraged by the joy and enthusiasm of everyone around me.

Over the years I have put lots of energy into my singing, teaching myself guitar and, more recently, the mandolin. Joining Sydney bluegrass band Hayfever and attending regular bluegrass retreats allowed me to find new confidence as a singer and guitarist. I also found great satisfaction in running “MoFo”, a regular modern folk club in at the Gaelic Club in Surry Hills (and discovering more amazing musicians, woo!).

I realised that I had found a very special community of people who had a passion for folk music and a desire to share it with others. It definitely rubbed off on me! I began writing my own material and performing at various Sydney open-mic nights, and I now have a set of songs that I am really excited and proud to share.



THE EP
My songwriting is very lyrically-focused, and the songs have emerged mostly from my experiences with figuring out relationships and observing people around me. They’re about how you build expectations around relationships and how often they can be wrong; about the fleeting interactions you have with people when you travel, or watching someone grow over the years, and how every one of these interactions can teach you something.
There are many diverse influences on my songwriting. At the time I was writing this EP I became involved with the spoken word poetry community in Sydney, and heard poets such as Lorin Elizabeth, Eunice Andrada and Candy Royalle. These poets, whose words are infused with such rawness, honesty, care and creativity, were hugely inspirational and forever changed the way I craft my own songs. Some songs on this EP even began their lives as poems!

MUSICIANS
A huge part of this project has been having the chance to play with lovely and talented violinist and singer, Maizy Coombes. We began sharing songs and playing music together in early 2014, where the seeds of this EP began. She is the first person with whom I share the raw beginnings of every song. I have also had the pleasure of playing with Laura Bishop, whose sensitive and intelligent accordion parts are like a breath of fresh air, filling the songs with the perfect atmosphere.

THE ARTWORK
As well as being a musician I am also an experienced designer, so it was a huge pleasure for me to design my own album artwork. As I was traveling last year, an image of a bird kept on cropping up in my notebooks, and it just seemed to fit.

RECORDING
The EP will be recorded and mixed by fellow musician Chris Gillespie in his wonderful solar-powered studio in the Blue Mountains.

Musicians on the recording:
Rebecca Bastoli: Vocals, guitar, mandolin
Maizy Coombes: Violin, vocals
Laura Bishop: Accordion, vocals
Mark Stevens: Bass
Kirsty Bromley: Vocals

Thank you for reading and for your support! I will be keeping you updated with photos, videos and blogs as the project progresses!


The studio:

$1800 Recording and Mixing
$1200 Printing CD's 
$900 Guest Musicians
$600 Mastering
$500 EP Launch

Any extra funds will be used to cover the costs of running the Pozible such as any Pozible and payment fees, and anything else involved in getting the rewards to you.
And if this project does super duper well i'll be able to include a booklet with lyrics and images when i print the CDs!