Taking The Long View

As arbitrary a date as January 1st is, it’s hard not to feel the significance of a new year. While I don’t have as specific plans or resolutions as I did last year (and those lasted for like 2.5 months so it might be for the best), I do have a few big goals and events coming up. Hopefully, sharing them with you will help keep me accountable to them - feel free to share yours in return if you need an internet accountability buddy!

New Music

I’ve posted about the recording process, but I’m finally finishing up the last bits of work before I can start prepping for release. This year, I’ll be putting out a six song EP. Each song will be released as a single over the course of six months or so, with Patreon Patrons getting early access to all the goodies (art, time lapses, music videos, and more).

I can’t say for sure when this massive undertaking will happen, but assume no earlier than mid-Spring. There will be a lot of prep and I’ll be reminding folks about Patreon a lot in the next few months. Rather than starting a KickStarter or IndieGoGo, I’ll be doing a Patreon revamp and using it to raise funds for the release (so I guess that’s a low-key subgoal).

New Shows

It’s been a hot minute since I’ve played out and it’ll be a couple more minutes before I play next (April 8th, at the moment), but I want to play more shows - and different kinds of shows than I’ve played in the past.

Last year, I got to experience a couple festivals (folk and Pagan) and I loved them. I’d love to do more of these in 2020 and will be going back to Fertile Ground Gathering in April/May. Hopefully, I’ll have developed a consistent route of festivals in a few years.

I’d also like to add to new venue types and locations to my schedule. For the last few months, I’ve been more and more interested in playing house shows and creating a performance specifically tailored towards UU churches. My upcoming release is very much focused on feminism and reclaiming personal power; I’d like to lean into that by creating an hour to hour-and-a-half show that has a narrative thread and message of empowerment. I’ve also been hoping to play in Minnesota for a while now, so maybe I’ll be able to manifest playing at a UU church in Minneapolis this year!

New Art

This past year expanded my artistic horizons more than I expected. It’s been a blast working on my tiny Basic Saints and I want to expand that further (Basic prayer candles, anyone?) and make more art more often. Now that I’ve successfully made a screen and NOT botched it, I’d love to make screen printing a regular part of my artistic repertoire. And I’m always interested in exploring new mediums and ways to join art and music.

I’ve recently started using digital drawing tools and I’m excited to see where those can take me. Comics? (Not really a question, that’s like the first thing I did.) Animation? More merch? Definitely yes to the latter. My hope is that digital drawings will be easier to transfer to useful things like mugs and clothes and reusable bags.

The end result of my first [successful] endeavor in screen printing.

On a personal level, my goal is to break some bad habits and thought patterns I have, and generally spend less time worrying and more time doing (read: give fewer fucks). So what are your goals broad or specific for 2020? Let me know!

Peace, love, and blessed be!

Melanie