Help Cantrip release "Undark"

*Every donation of $25 or more counts as a pre-order. We will follow up for shipping info*

We are Dan Houghton, Jon Bews and Eric McDonald. We are Cantrip, a band separated by an ocean. We've been touring for over 20 years and have made 5 albums. We've also made some incredible memories, friendships and had amazing musical experiences. But the Atlantic takes its dues from us, and while we are on two sides of it we struggle to make ends meet. Music has always existed in large part due to philanthropy. Crowdfunding is a modern manifestation of this and has become an essential element to project completion for musicians, especially in the midst of a multi-year pandemic. For us as a professional entity, more expenses (such as travel and visas) and less time together require us to get creative with our bottom line. With this mind, we are running this fundraiser to hopefully fund our upcoming album.

To produce it we worked exclusively with Edinburgh based musician and engineer Reuben Taylor, whose hands have touched in some fashion every project we have released independently and is a cryptic yet essential ingredient to Cantrip’s sound. Furthermore, Edinburgh exists deep in the fabric of the band, so we went home to do this. We had been too long away, and the catharsis of the ancient city streets imbued itself onto the sounds of this album. We were counting on this as by design we had a week to write and arrange the album, followed by three days to then record it, tracking live together in the same room with no baffles (with bagpipes!). Our fifth album was a live one, and it helped us to understand that to make the best music we can there are two currents, one which requires conscious thought and one which requires it to be absent. This album is our foray into the practice of unifying these in a new and creative way. This is Cantrip at its rawest. The playing is fresh and the arrangements are spontaneous, sometimes unexpectedly thrilling. If we feel that way, we certainly hope you do. They are both fully fledged but also resembling the informal nature of our roots. We set Reuben up with a mobile studio and recorded in a teenager’s bedroom (with all the bells and whistles), leaving space for random occurrence such as Willa Bews making an appearance on a whim with her incredible piping (resulting in a highlight track we never expected).

To fund this album we have come up with a budget of $6200. We are hoping to meet this goal through as many pre-orders as possible. If you wish, you can donate more for more exciting rewards. But really, what we want is for you to share this far and wide and help us get this album into as many hands as possible right from the start!!

Our proposed budget is as follows:

Equipment rental, recording and mixing - $3500 

Mastering - $600 

Graphics - $400

Reproduction - $1450 

 Pre-order Shipping: $250 

Total: $6200

We're proud of this album. When you listen to the band now, you can still hear nostalgic notes of our early days, playing sessions in pubs on the Royal Mile. But much has changed. The sound has matured, darkened. There are songs. There are twists and turns, expected and not. More risks are taken, and when taken all together there is something in it that we feel can’t be found elsewhere. This is what makes this new album important to us, and we hope you agree. We’re calling it “Undark”.

REWARDS:

$15 - A digital download of the new album

$25 - A copy of the new CD.

$50 - A copy of the new CD, plus a private, 1-2 hour virtual home coffee brewing consultation with Eric, who is also proprietor of Chez Brew.

$75 - A copy of the new CD, plus a custom "Undark" calendar with sheet music and other Cantrip media.

$100 - Two copies of the new CD, plus the band member of your choice will record a message for your home answering machine in any of English, French or Gaelic (Dan only)

$300 - As many as four copies of the new CD, plus a dedicated tune written for the person or occasion of your choice

$500 - As many as four copies of the new CD, a private zoom concert for you and your chosen group of friends.

$1000 - As many as four copies of the new CD, plus a location dependent live concert!! Reach out to us for more details.