Kickstarter

The end is finally in sight! The album is being mixed by Nick Nagurka, my absolute favorite audio engineer. Sonically, you'll be in for a much greater treat than I ever hoped for. Artwork is being finalized. Packaging materials are being gathered. You'll have a lovely product in your hands at the end of February!

Release show:

February 28, 8pm
Chris Dupont ALBUM RELEASE
with very special guests:
Jetty Rae &Abigail Stauffer
Blind Pig, 208 S. 1st St.
Ann Arbor, Michigan
18-20: tix $10. 21+: tix $7.

Dear friends and listeners!

As many of you know, I recently married my best friend Betsy King on October 6, 2012. Between wedding planning and our autumn honeymoon, my recording schedule fell a bit behind. Please forgive the delay! Since returning home, I've been hard at work cranking this thing out, and I am confident that you will love the results.

Here's where we're at! I spent the entire month of November recording heavily, and the album is definitely coming together. I was fortunate enough to wrap up the last of the rhythm tracks with local greats Billy Harrington (drums) and Sam Collins (bass), engineered by Nick Nagurka at Backseat Studios in Ann Arbor.

For those that are curious, the tracklist has been finalized. This will be a 10-song LP, and I believe it will be very cohesive. There will be a bunch of crowd favorites, as well as a couple new ones that haven't been heard yet. The songs are:

Worry the Wolf
Scare the Bear
Winterfox
The Vigil
Washington Street
Bloodrise
Dearest Julia
Rest Up
Starting Fires
House

This month, I'm wrapping up electric guitar arrangements, backing vocals, and strings. My dear friends Sarah Paquet (cello) and Katie VanDusen (violin) will be working with me in mid-December to wrap this up before the holidays.

I am negotiating with venues as we speak, to book a CD release show at the best possible space in the Ann Arbor area. I will announce the show as soon as it is confirmed. After the release, I will be launching an early spring tour to promote the album. For those backers who bought house shows, please watch your email, as I will be contacting you soon to get your concert scheduled!

Once again, I thank you for your patience as I complete the project. Can't wait to share it!

Dear friends.

It has been a while! Please forgive my internet silence!

First off, here's an update on my progress. This past April, my "Anxious Animal" demos were turned in as my senior thesis project for the University of Michigan Performing Arts Technology program. They were very well received by my professors and colleagues!

But now we're on to the most important part of the project: making a breathtaking album that will stand the test of time.

Early in the summer, I worked with a stellar team to track drums for the record. Nick Nagurka (engineer), Eric Huntley (engineer, acoustic treatment rigger), Billy Harrington (drum tech), and Nick Rifken (drummer in my band!) worked their tails off with me to crank out some truly huge-sounding drums.

Since then, I've been hard at work tracking acoustic guitar and vocals. Thanks to your generous support, I've had the privilege of booking studio time at Backseat Productions in Ann Arbor. This studio has produced some of my favorite folk albums, so it's been a great learning experience singing there!

Now onto some important timing things. I really hoped to have this record cranked out by August. It's becoming clear that I'm going to need more time. The bad news: these CDs won't show up at your door as soon as I had hoped. The good news: I am confident that when they DO show up at your door, they will sound even better than I had originally hoped and expected. I am working with a team of the best people in Ann Arbor, and I am growing a great deal as an artist as I produce this album. I promise the wait is going to be worth it!

The tracking for the album will be wrapping up late this summer, possibly into early Autumn. Then, as many of you know, I'm getting hitched to Betsy King! When we are done honeymooning in mid October, I'll be coming home to finish post production and mixing for the record. We are hoping to make this mid-winter release. I think this will serve the record very well, because it has a bit of a wintery vibe to it.

Please stay tuned, and feel free to send messages and comments! Your encouragement and support is definitely appreciated. I'll be posting videos and demos very soon to give you a preview!

Love,

CDP

Dear family and friends,

Anxious Animal is funded. Thank you so much for your pledges! You have all been incredibly generous and encouraging. We beat the goal by quite a significant margin, which will make this quite a smooth production process.

I'm hard at work mixing the first handful of songs for the record, to present at U of M's Performing Arts Technology Senior Thesis Showcase (what a mouthful) this Friday, April 13th. I'm graduating, then playing four shows before the end of April. When May comes, the band and I are diving straight back into arranging and tracking.

Stay tuned for videos, shows, and email updates. I'll be sharing a couple sneak peaks of the tunes as soon as I can!

Thank you again.

Love,

Chris

Here's a little taste!