Dear friends,

 I am writing to you from a small floral lakeside vacation rental in northwest Montana. It's grey and rainy and quietly gorgeous. Since the beginning of this project, I've been planning to reconvene with Jake Merkin (engineer/mixer/producer) here at his home studio in Whitefish, Montana to finish recording and begin mixing the record. Our plans were financially delayed due to me losing my job at the end of June, and then further delayed after our very close friends, and collaborators on this project, were involved in a tragic car accident in early August. These have not been easy months, but with broken heavy hearts, we're putting ourselves back together and will continue to make and work and dream with Andrew and Alicia constantly in our thoughts as they continue to recover. 

It's hard to be patient with such a big project, and I wish I could just get this music into your hands right now, but we're making something a bit larger than we initially intended. Attached is a video of the string session we did in Michigan, and if you check out my tumblr page (http://24hour-romance.tumblr.com/) you can peak the ballroom recording we did right before I jumped the train to Montana. 

Thank you again and again for your support. Staying bright-eyed and working hard.

Anna & co.

p.s. Throughout this whole recording project, I have also been working on opening a performance art space in downtown Oakland. This is where we shot our soon to be released music video, recorded two songs for the record, and will be making lots more photos, videos, and projects to share with you. 

check it: http://thestarlineballroom.com/

Hi hi hi!

Oh wow! Holy June! We are working so incredibly hard over here and the record is starting to come together in such a beautiful way. It's definitely becoming something much larger than I originally anticipated making, but after the first few sessions, I realized that with these songs, and with the quality of musicians and engineers involved in the project, I had to aim high, otherwise none of us would be satisfied. 

We have recorded eleven songs so far, and are planning on recording a few more before we narrow down the ten songs for the album. Last week we recorded horns, this week i'm shooting a music video, and in two weeks i'll be traveling to Michigan to record strings and pedal steel. I'm aiming for a November record release, and am praying to all things magical and holy that I find a small record label that wants to help me release the vinyl. 

This process is unbelievably stressful and hard, but also overwhelmingly humbling and beautiful. I can't wait to show you all what you have helped to create, and am even more anxious to see what happens next. 

Love,

Anna

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s9By7U1Y6_8

Hi hi hi!

Just returned from a week of working down in Los Angeles with some amazing musicians. We have the beginnings of seven tracks and now I'm back in Oakland writing arrangements, and getting ready to put down vocals and begin the four other tunes. Everything's starting to come together, but like all small budget projects, we have to be extremely flexible and patient. After the kickstarter and amazon costs, we received $5,300 for the project -- which fully covers mastering ($1500), mixing ($600), vinyl printing & pressing ($2000), but it doesn't fully cover all of our studio costs. Fortunately we have some phenomenal friends who are giving us mega good deals. Everything about this making business just humbles me to the core. I can't wait to get this record in your hands, and I hope you all recognize how truly powerful you are as a supporter of the arts. The biggest biggest thanks ever.

Coming in the near future:
* new videos
* new bandcamp site
* new work @ www.24hour-romance.tumblr.com
* The Oakland Starline Ballroom Project

beautiful weekend to you,
Anna

Happy New Years!

Holy cow! The biggest thanks ever ever. This means so much to us, and we're all thrilled to be able to make something beautiful for you. I'm here in this cozy little room in Michigan practicing for my show tomorrow at Mittenfest and getting ready to start recording on the 3rd. I'll be posting updates on my website and making some new videos-- giving you all little previews of what we're working up. Oh wow, this is so special. Thank you again and again for your kindness, generosity, and support.

love,
anna & friends

(photo by Tomo Saito)