"Outrageous!"

Debut full-length album from Freyja's Rain.

Our proposed project is to record, mix, master, replicate and print a 12-track CD recording of Jenny Sawer's original music with Canberra-based roots-fusion band Freyja’s Rain during March - May 2012.

It will be entitled "Outrageous", named after one of Freyja's Rain's most loved, uplifting, catchy tunes!

Please take the time to watch our promotional video made by the fabulous Eesha Hunjon!

“Canberra-based roots-fusion band Freyja's Rain have been inspiring and entertaining audiences for three years with their catchy tunes! Jenny Sawer's soulful, melismatic voice weaves heartfelt lyrics with a unique style influenced by blues, jazz, gospel and folk. Inspired by musicians such as Eva Cassidy, Joni Mitchell, Annie Lennox, Etta James, Kimbra, Adele and Alicia Keys, she speaks of love, loss, joy, relationships and love of nature through eclectic vocal styles intertwined with lush harmonies. Combined with the elegance of Alan Hilvert-Bruce's guitar, Leonie Gall's funky bass and Mark Lever's jazz-inspired drumming, Freyja's Rain are a tight outfit that always impress and get crowds singing and dancing along! Jenny is the primary songwriter in Freyja's Rain and has had her songs played on local Canberra radio including 2XX and ArtSound. Freyja's Rain plays regularly at popular Canberra venues such as Charlie Black, The Front, The Artist's shed (QBN), The Merry Muse, A Bite to Eat, The Phoenix and The Pot Belly. Jenny's songs will touch your heart and after spending some time at a Freyja's Rain show, you’ll ask yourself “how can I keep from singing?”!”.

"Outrageous!" will be a fantastic album that will help create the perfect atmosphere for chilling at a party, singing along loudly to in the car, strumming along to at the beach or playing quietly in the background to dinner guests!

The album will be recorded by Ian Blake of Blue Bear Studio (http://www.facebook.com/bluebearstudio), Mastered by Kimmo Vennonen of KV Productions (http://www.kvp.net.au) and replicated and printed by Austep Music (http://www.austepmusic.com.au).

Freyja’s Rain worked with Ian in 2011 to record three demo versions of our songs for promotional purposes, and we appreciated his professionalism and expertise. Kimmo mastered our EP released in 2010 and we found him to be equally professional and an expert in his field. Austep Music has promoted two of our songs on their independent compilations and they were great to work with. Their rates are competitive and we are impressed by their commitment to using recycled products for their unique attractive packaging and their support of independent Australian music.

We need to raise $8,500 to assist in the production of our album but we are starting with $5,000 to get us off the ground!

Here is our budget breakdown:

Recording = $6,000

Mixing = $900

Replicating/Printing CDs = $1,600

TOTAL = $8,500

This does not include costs for marketing, artwork, distribution or touring. These funds will be raised with other grants (if successful) and support from friends, fans, family and out of our own pocket.

The album will be sold for $20 directly through Freyja's Rain at gigs, at local CD shops and on our websites. It will also be available on iTunes and CD Baby.

Jenny feels that her passion for singing and story-telling needs to be expressed in a comprehensive album made by excellent musicians and engineers. The process of producing the full-length CD will be a great developmental journey for the musicians and sound engineers involved. The album will feature 12 original songs influenced by blues, gospel, jazz and folk genres including crowd favourites "When I grow up", "So hard to go" and "Fear". The music of Freyja's Rain has a heavy emphasis on vocal agility and complex harmonies and needs to be professionally recorded so as to ensure the vocal sounds are high quality. The accompanying instruments (guitar, bass, drums, cello, piano) also need expert attention in the recording process so as to highlight the exciting melodic, harmonic and rhythmic aspects of the music.

Jenny has been actively involved with the music scene in Canberra for over 20 years, as a member of community choirs, orchestras, original and cover bands and as a solo singer and music educator. She is a product of the Canberra music scene and feels very strongly about giving back to the community that she was raised and educated in with such wonderful teachers and artists leading the way. Alan Hilvert-Bruce, Leonie Gall and Mark Levers are all exceptional musicians with great skill and dedication and Jenny is so grateful to be able to work with such talent! Jenny and the band feel that original music coming out of Canberra is quite unique, professional and often under valued by the Australian artistic community. Freyja's Rain aims to involve some amateur singing students as part of a mini-choir of backing vocalists for at least 2 tracks on the album! This will allow them to further their learning by being actively involved in a recording process and receiving a professional recording of their journey.

Freyja’s Rain will organise numerous live performances in Canberra and throughout Australia to promote and tour our album. This will help to nurture the live music scene in Canberra and encourage audience members to support original music and the Australian arts scene in general. Involving other professional Canberra-based musicians and engineers to create a piece of sound art will help to give Canberra more recognition as a thriving musical community!

We greatly appreciate your support in helping us reach our goal!

For more information, please see our websites:

http://www.reverbnation.com/freyjasrain

http://www.facebook.com/freyjasrain2

http://www.myspace.com/freyjasrain

http://soundcloud.com/freyjas-rain

http://www.triplejunearthed.com/FreyjasRain

http://www.jennysawer.com