Author: emmanoonanmusic

Thursday 18th October 2023:

Everything is falling into place for the ‘Bricks and Mortar’ release date on Friday: press release written and distributed to various Christian music websites and radio stations; campaign plan in place to promote the release more widely; ‘Hiding Place’ lyric video is ready to go live; album showcase event on November 18th is coming together and CDs ready for purchase.

As an independent singer/songwriter, I have had to develop lots of skills from writing, arranging and recording music to video production, graphic design, marketing and event co-ordination. I absolutely love learning new skills and stretching my capabilities. The final part of this journey, the album showcase event, is by far the most challenging and daunting as it takes me way out of my comfort zone. Even though I am used to leading worship in a range of church contexts, I am not used to performing to an audience. Fortunately, I have a fantastic band behind me !

Monday 28th August 2023:

With the album artwork nearly complete, there was one thing missing – a decent shot of me. A part of me would rather remain in the background, but as a person who is interested in people and stories, I felt that it was important to capture the person behind the music. It takes real skill to capture shots that bring out the subject’s personality – especially when the subject is photographically awkward, so you really need the right person for the job. Fortunately, I am really blessed to have a brother who works in the film and photography industry. Even though he mainly takes photos of still life objects and landscapes, I think he did a particularly amazing job. We also had a bit of help from my husband Andy (whose role was to make me laugh) and my niece and nephew – young people know how to work the camera!

All photos were taken on the Vine cricket ground in Sevenoaks – the town that was made famous after the Great Storm of 1987 brought down six of its seven oak trees. It is also the place where I was born and raised, so it was a particularly special place to capture some great shots.

19th August 2023:

Now that my album ‘Bricks and Mortar’ is almost ready for release, I need to think about the artwork for the CDs that I will get made.  In the 21st century age of digital screening, CDs are pretty irrelevant; however, like books, there is something special about picking up a physical CD: the smooth texture of the case; the smell of freshly printed paper; the sound of the case as it clicks opens and snaps shut.  Music, like reading, should, I believe,  be a multi-sensory experience.

With this in mind, I will be ordering 50 CDs to sell should anyone still have a CD 💿 player and wish to go old school.  My husband keeps warning me that they will be a waste of money and that we will probably only sell  3 and have 47 languishing in a cupboard gathering dust.  I have tried to convince him that it is a rite of passage for a published songwriter to produce a CD – it’s mainly about the artwork, which gets forgotten about when you click on a digital album in Spotify.  I guess it is because the music industry is so fast moving and accessible to all that people don’t have either the time or money to invest in a CD as it takes a lot of effort and skill to design the artwork.  As someone who loves learning new skills and also being creative, I thought that I would bite the bullet – in for a penny; in for a pound as they used to say in the old days before vinyl was even invented (that’s a record by the way – so old that there isn’t even an emoji for me to use).  

I decided to use my weekend away in the Isle of Wight to take a few arty photos to create a mood board for my album.  The Isle of Wight is a special place for me as I have holidayed in Freshwater Bay and Yarmouth since I was a child – it is my second home.  The Isle of Wight also has a lot of interesting 19th century military fortifications, which were built to protect the South of England from foreign invasion.  I used the ruined Cliff End battery over looking Fort Albert near Freshwater where I take regular weekends away for my iPhone photo shoot.  These buildings are the perfect backdrop for my album ‘Bricks and Mortar’, as both the title song and ‘Hiding Place’ on the album contain motifs linked with walls, bricks, ruins and battle against the enemy.  I took some interesting shots of brick work, ruins and battlements, which I am currently using to design CD artwork, inlay and lyric booklet (with the help of Canva, a duplication company and my brother Simon who has extensive knowledge of photography and graphic design). 

As an independent recording artist, I’m trying to manage my budget carefully by doing most of the work myself from the initial recording/production to photography, graphic design and marketing.  Even this website has been created by me using a basic package with ready made templates at minimal cost.  It may not be all singing and dancing, but it hopefully gets my message, as an independent recording artist who just loves creating music to honour God, across. My vision is to create the best with what I have at minimal cost.  As an English teacher, I love learning, writing and creating, which goes a long way!