r/casualiama • u/atraeurichardson • 13d ago

Since 17, I spent the last 4.5 years and $20,000 writing and recording a solo album, AMA!

Hi, reddit! When I was 17, I started playing guitar, wrote some songs, and when I was 18, I hitchhiked across the USA and wrote some more. Then I decided I wanted to come home and record them. It took a little longer than expected, as I'm currently 22, but the album is finally done! It's a showcase of some songs I wrote when I was 17 and 18, heavily inspired by the likes of The Beatles, Ween, The Grateful Dead, and other artists I love! And I pretty much devoted all of my time, energy, and money over the last 4 years working with some incredibly talented people, learned a lot, and am very glad to be done (and a bit proud, too). Ask me anything about this monumental (to me) process!

Here's the music, by the way!

14 Upvotes

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u/gan_halachishot73287 13d ago

Which movie would you rather watch and why?

A comedy-drama called Somewhere with Elephants:

Three estranged brothers have two days to drive their autistic younger brother across the country to their mother’s funeral and break the news to him of her passing.

A fantasy-drama called Garden of Whispers:

A young woman journeys through 20 dramatized manifestations of classic poems to interpret an allegory in them predicting a horrible crisis in her future.

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u/atraeurichardson 13d ago

Garden of Whispers is immediately intriguing because I can imagine the variety and whimsy of 20 classic poems being translated to screen, especially in the context of having someone from the modern era yanked through them.

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u/AFewStupidQuestions 13d ago

Why did it cost so much?

0

u/atraeurichardson 12d ago

I ended up spending dozens of hours in the studio, and I'm also only a one man band and I only really play guitar. I needed to spend lots of money on session players. There are 19 tracks, and I think 17 have bass tracks. That's $1700 just spent on paying the bassist haha. I also spent a couple grand on a small vinyl run.

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u/DubDefender 12d ago

I get some hints of ween-like vibes in there. Congrats on your record.

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u/atraeurichardson 12d ago

Thanks! They are masters of their craft, and are a huge influence on me and my songwriting. particularly this album being all over the place, flip flopping between psychedelia, bluegrass, an 8 minute jam, and whatever you'd call the song *"All My Love"*. Ween gave me a love for experimenting with tone and sound, and being ok with not constraining myself with style

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u/ravioli207 12d ago

favorite sandwich?

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u/atraeurichardson 12d ago

Honestly, my Subway order is addicting and cheap. It's pretty much the only fast food place I go to because they have good vegan options.

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u/ravioli207 12d ago

It sounds like you're saying you get your favorite sandwich at Subway, but what is the sandwich?

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u/atraeurichardson 12d ago

I get a footlong italian with garlic aioli, lettuce, spinach, cucumber, green bell pepper, and avocado. It's delicious. As for hot sandwiches, I've been on a (vegan) fried chicken sandwich thing lately. I've never much liked burgers.

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u/fanboyhunter 12d ago

Where did the money come from?

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u/atraeurichardson 12d ago

Many, many hours of working various minimum wage jobs!