My New Album: Why I Need $2,800

So as many of you know, I have been working my tail off on making my first-full length album sound as awesome as possible. Everyone involved in the project has now decided on a Fall release, giving us enough time to make this album sparkle. However, no matter how great this record sounds, we still need YOUR help! Watch this video for further explanation. You may realize I'm surprisingly camera-shy ;)

So just to recap - I'm raising funds to cover the costs of mixing and mastering (the technical tasks that make an album sound professional and radio-ready), photography for my new album and upcoming official website, and CD replication (all those pretty CDs I schlep around with me do come from somewhere...). 

Once again, IF I DO NOT RAISE A GRAND TOTAL OF $2,800 BY JULY 20TH, I DO NOT GET ANY OF THE MONEY PLEDGED. Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!! So scary. I must admit that the combination of excitement and terror has been making it difficult to sleep for the past 3 weeks. 

To help me out, follow the link below and make a pledge. Keep in mind that your credit card will not be charged unless I reach $2,800 by 7PM on July 20th.

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/leilasfirstalbum/leilas-first-full-length-album

To make your pledge count, tell everyone you know! Your friends, your mom, your hairdresser, your priest. EVERYONE. Believe me, I need all the help I can get.

With love from a very excited/nervous/optimistic/hopeful/all of the above singer-songwriter,

Leila

PS: The sooner we raise $2,800 the sooner I can start sleeping normally again! Food for thought :P

Why I am Delaying My Album Release

Hello all,

Today I bring you good and bad news. I have decided, with help of Dan Berry (lovely producer/engineer/guitar player on my album) to delay my album release by a month.

To be completely honest, it broke my heart to do it. But I need to do what's right for this album.

Musicians face scary deadlines all the time, and constantly face the possibility of not finishing their albums on time. More often than not, they have to settle for what their albums sound like, rather than allowing more time for the music to really come into its own.

The beauty of not being on a label is that I get to decide when my album comes out. As excited as I was for my August 31 release date (come on, how perfect does that sound), it did not give me enough time to make each song on the album really shine. I realized that I still had so many ideas, and the album might not live its full potential if I did not investigate these ideas. Needless to say, I refused to let my album not live up to its full potential.

I will write again with the new official release date, though I already pretty much know what that is. You guys will know when I'm 100% positive. I promise. ;)

I'm sorry, guys. But I am looking at this positively. I want to give you an album that we can all be proud of.

With love,
Leila

Album Update! And Other Jazz...

Hello there!

Sorry I've been a bit of a stranger lately. Finishing up your last semester of college is no easy task, and I've been trying my best to balance everything.

So how have I been spending my time?

Well, I've been recording my full-length album piece by piece, and I must admit, I'm really excited based on what we've done so far. I'm hoping to finish all the major tracking by May, and I'm keeping my fingers crossed that we can stay on schedule. Without giving too much away, let me just say that this album is going to be VOCALS GALORE. I recorded some scratch back-up vocals for "Mirror, Mirror" just the other day, and I am so freaking happy with how they turned out. I can already see that this album is going to be so much more me.

Other lovely news: I wrote a new song recently that I'm really fond of. It's called "Lily" and it's about a little girl who wants to become a famous singer (hmm I wonder where I got that from). She eventually grows up to meet a guy who forces her to give it all up. Of course he doesn't do this in a completely obvious way - most manipulation is after all, unconscious. I'm not sure where I got the darker half of my story from, but I figure my own determination to avoid this fate has something to do with it.

Here's a pic from the venue where I debuted "Lily" for the first time! Taken at Vaudeville Park in Brooklyn, 2/28/12

One more important thing you should know: I am currently involved in a rock musical written by a colleague and friend of mine, Kelly Izzo.

What?!

Yes, it's true. I'm in a musical. Who woulda thunk?

The musical is called "Alice Unraveled" and it's the story of a girl who gets sexually assaulted and slips into Wonderland to cope with her trauma. My character is Alice's mother/The Red Queen, and I must admit I'm having a blast. The show is going up this Friday, and I think it's really a great chance for me to get up from behind the piano and get more comfortable with working the stage. Click here to check out the event if you'd be interested in seeing me portray an evil queen. Truth be told, I'm having way too much fun with that...

So why am I killing myself trying to balance all these incredibly time-consuming things on top of finishing college?

As a singer-songwriter, the most important thing is to step outside of your comfort zone and live life. Otherwise, I'd have nothing to write about! So that's exactly what I'm doing. Living.

I hope you guys are doing a little of that too. It's a hectic world out there.

Wishing you all some inner peace (and fun too!)

-Leila