Composition on the Balkan Tale (which could end up being called Hajduk and Janissary) is done. I’m cleaning up the music, working on the mix and basically waiting to see if any of the grants come in. The grants will allow me to hire real musicians to play the piece, record it and perform it. Perform it here in the Balkans.
Worst case scenario, i will keep polishing the demo tracks until they sound as good as they can be, and just hire local singers to sing the parts. But that is worst case scenario. The whole point of the project is to have a live band play the album. I will aim for that with all my might. BUT… if that is not possible, i do have a workable Plan B.
However, as said before, i am well aware that the audience for New Albion and the audience for the Balkan Tale project only crosses over to a degree. My guess is, %30 of you New Albion fans will love it (50 if i get a good band), %30 will be mildly interested and %30 will not care for it and wish i’d do more New Albion.
I’m not doing more New Albion. BUT…. the next project is the spiritual follow up, if you will. Think of me as a writer. I wrote that one trilogy you love, New Albion books 1-3. I’m set to soon begin work on the next series. The Town of…. Lost Hollow (? I don’t know i’m making shit up. The working title is the Town Of Nowhere, but that probably too… over the top.) Anyway, the Town of Nowhere series, and book 1 is Miss Hannah’s Curious…. blah blah…. Cabaret. LOOK I DON’T HAVE ANY NAMES YET. I DO NAMES LATER IN THE PROCESS. I JUST HAVE THE PLOT AND 3 OF THE 4 CHARACTERS.
It is literally a Cabaret. The piece IS a cabaret performance. But there is also certainly a storyline. This cabaret takes place every Saturday in the Saloon of the Town, although the saloon is more purple satin gothic than rickety wooden. It’s got Miss Hannah herself who is the Narrator, The Sheriff, The unnamed Other Male, and our lead, the villain (?), Han-Mi.
Artist Sarah De Buck will be doing all sorts of art for the piece along the way, including preliminary character sketches, which you’ll be seeing soon enough.
I will need to do a great bit of writing to prepare. Like, pen in a notebook writing. Lots of it. This project is actually quite complicated, although if i pull it off properly it shouldn’t feel as complicated as it is. I cannot post any of the writing bits. This one: no spoilers.
The genre is Dark Cabaret. Musically it will be much more… moody, haunting and melancholy (and theatrical) than my past 2 projects. It’s closet comparison is actually Dolls. I’ve been enjoying rocking out my past two projects, specifically this Balkan project, but now i wish to work with tinkly, haunting, sad music things…. a gothic western cabaret from an oddly weird lost town where fantasy, sci-fi and western tropes meet.
I will probably begin doing writing exercises where i flush out the town, character and story details next week. (I have the basic story arc. The whole reason i’m doing this is because 1. i saw the words Dark Cabaret on day while surfing the net and suddenly remembered all the Dark Cabaret i used to listen to while preparing for Dolls and how i could have done so much more with that and suddenly all i wanted in life was to do more with it and 2. A few days later while washing dishes and thinking of cabarets i suddenly got a story idea that… that made me stop what i was doing, slowly look up out the kitchen window, and say “Fuuuuck.” It was that moment i knew i was going to do this.
It is a challenge on a number of levels, especially the storytelling and inter character complexities. I could not have done it a few years ago, but with New Albion under my belt, i think i can now. The fact that i am actually a bit scared as to whether i can pull it off is… one of the big reasons i’m excited and want to do it.
The 1st act could end up being long. There’s no way it’ll be under 30 minutes and it COULD end up being 40 minutes. We’ll see, but if it’s 40, then i will likely make each “book”, that is Act, 40 minutes. Instead of double albums, each release will be this length. But we’ll see. I may simply only have 2 acts in this album. Like i said, i need to start writing. I have a plot and a shitload of details, but no outline and some of those details are spiraling in mental chaos.
Stay tuned. Oh yeah, Lauren Osborn is the narrator Miss Hannah and Psyche Corp is Han-Mi. I’ll be seeking out males for the other part (s). We shall speak again soon.
