Good evening night owls! I’m writing to you from a lamp lit room, with Heidi the whippet curled up in her bed next to me. She puffs so softly through her lips when she is sleeping.
On Friday, we shared the news our EP In the End I Won’t Be Coming Home, recorded and mixed across two whirlwind weeks in July and August, will be coming out on November 24. The EP will be released digitally and on CD, but also as on a double EP vinyl record featuring our beloved 2012 debut EP Claimed by the Sea on the B side. Pre-orders for this are now open (but more on that in a minute).
Both EP’s were recorded with Lee Prebble at his Wellington based studio The Surgery - and it feels just right that we should be releasing them for the first time on vinyl together. Each recorded under Lee’s thoughtful guidance, but years apart. It is fascinating to listen to these collections side by side. On Claimed by the Sea, a shy and sweetly imaginative 24 year old just learning to use her voice…and on this new EP…well we keep on pushing at the seams of our writing and arrangements…but songs remain ethereal bodies that come on a whim and of their own will!
The front cover for In the End... is an illustration by Edinburgh based artist Anna Wilson (aka A Bottle Full of Rain). We’ve never met in person, but from our messages and through following her work I feel we are both kindreds in seeking out solitary windswept places (...and with a love for a good cup of tea). This image depicts the view from the clifftop above Hemmick Beach in Cornwall, England. I’m sure you will see the parallels I saw in the image when listening to the new collection.
The first song from the new EP ‘Baring Head’ also came out on Friday. It was written out in the wind and in a dilapidated concrete room (with the most glorious reverb) by the Baring Head lighthouse, which is located between Wellington Harbour and Palliser Bay at the southern end of the North Island. I hope to go back there soon! I remember fondly the time Will, Amy and I decided to sleep out beneath the stars with the lighthouse beam sweeping across the waters, and the wind trying to tug away our pillows. Photo’s from that time, below.
As I mentioned in my previous blog post, a wee while ago I watched The Beatles: Get Back documentary and I was moved to see how these complicated individuals sparked off each other, and to see the “work” of making music in process. I feel we so rarely get to be a fly on the wall at this stage of creation. The video for ‘Baring Head’ was filmed during the recording sessions for the EP by Mason Rudd in Wellington, and by Annabel Kean in Auckland during the string sessions. Many of the video footage aligns with the actual final takes you hear on the audio recording too. Creation in real time.
The Tension Between Art and Money
There is some irony to be found in the journey we undertook to create this new EP, especially considering the themes of ‘Baring Head’ which explores the tension between art and money. I proclaimed in the song that “art stops for no-one, yes it rolls on with the intensity of a flaming sun” - but truthfully, this EP nearly did stop. Achieving the creative vision required studio time, string arrangements, players, mastering engineers and so on. My brain had conjured up something that did cost money. Of course, we could rely purely on the generosity of our friends and collaborators, but they all need to eat too, and I value their expertise and artistry.
After applying for two slightly soul destroying rounds of Creative New Zealand funding (it even made the news), two rounds of NZ on AIR funding (for songs that we suspected may be too subtle or left field) and some additional charitable trust funding for string arrangements with no success, we had to make a decision. Although we have wonderful and dedicated fans (Thank You!) the truth is that when we calculated the cost of recording, mixing, mastering, pressing and promoting the EP (modestly) there would be a very real risk that we wouldn’t break even without funding.
This record incurs about $24,000 NZD of expenses with very little marketing budget, and it has taken countless hours of my own to bring this all together. To cover the costs of this without making a profit we must sell 280 CD’s, 200 standard edition vinyl and 100 special edition vinyl. This might seem modest to some, but keep in mind - we’re a band playing subtle, gentle music from a small country on the bottom of the planet - and like many indie artists we’re just doing our best in an unfriendly, online environment where the algorithm is king and content is like candy. Candy will always outcompete the organic vegetables of the world…and then everyone wonder’s why they feel tired, and can’t concentrate! We want you to concentrate! We want to nourish you.
Over the years, around my career as a songwriter and artist I have always held down various part-time or freelance work, as has the rest of French for Rabbits. In New Zealand, this is very normal and there are very few musicians who can live solely off their creative work for an extended period of time given the small size and population of the country and the current ways that art can be monetized (hello, $0.003 per Spotify Stream). This week our first song ‘Baring Head’ has likely earned us a grand total of $4.50 on Spotify.
The question that many indie artists ask is how do we do it differently? When the ways in which we can earn money is being eroded - how can we make it sustainable without resorting to becoming online sales people and social media influencers? How do we share our artisan organic songs, our social services for the public good (because, really that is what music is). And if you’re wondering, YES, the ways we can earn money are being eroded. Recently in New Zealand, APRA AMCOS made a change to how royalties are earned at major concerts, so support acts effectively now will receive less. A support act on tour will already receive a very small fee, often not enough to cover travel costs, and even their merch sales will incur a cut from the venue (a push back against this is ongoing with some success in the US). This is only amplified for a headline indie artist on tour, and changes negotiated by Universal Music with streaming services could make it even worse for indie artists.
What I do know is that we appreciate everyone who listens, we are so glad our music has become interwoven through people’s lives. Whether it is one song like ‘Claimed by the Sea’ soundtracking a summer, or ‘The Tunnel’ accompanying a first break up. We love hearing these stories about the songs.
We’re not crowdfunding but…
So - I’ve never felt entirely comfortable with the art of asking - even when for a time I worked for an organisation that did arts crowdfunding! I want people to buy the music because they love it, not because they love us, or feel obliged to support us.
But…honestly, I think if you are reading this you will probably love our new EP and this very special vinyl double release.
Bandcamp Friday is just around the corner (Bandcamp Friday is a day that occurs on the first Friday of every month where Bandcamp waves their commission fees and allows artists to keep 100% of the profits from sales) and it is the perfect day to pre-order our new EP or our double EP vinyl.
In these first few days of opening our pre-orders, and from our paper pre-orders on our recent tour we are thrilled to say we’ve sold almost 40 CD’s and records already. My goal for this EP is to sell out of the first edition of vinyl (200 standard editions, 100 special editions) and as many CD’s as we can (I’ve heard through the grapevine that CD’s are coming back into fashion!) by Christmas. I don’t know if this is possible, but if you’ll help us - maybe we can!
If you’d like to share a song with a friend, re-post our music video on your social media, purchase your own copy of our music on Bandcamp Friday. Well, we’re not going to say no. We’d be so, so delighted. If you want to know the exact time that Bandcamp Friday starts and ends, check here.
French for Rabbits and The Black Quartet - wrapping up our tour in September celebrating these new songs ahead of release.
There are a couple of other Wellington/Pōneke-based artists we’d like to shout out to as well, maybe you’d like to check out their upcoming releases too. Both of these are self-titled releases…which you know, this is a statement. It means these artists feel like these records are defining.
Firstly, our wonderful friend Ebony Lamb has been working on her new album for a long time - the blood sweat and tears. It is truly glorious, and Hikurangi and Phoebe (our drummer and bass player) are also in the live band touring through October and November. Our friends Mermaidens are killing it on their independent release - their music videos are honestly SO good. Some of the smartest in the business. This new album is going to be a modern kiwi rock classic in my opinion.
Thank you all again for reading my ramblings…it is now morning (don’t worry, I didn’t stay up all night to write. I had a very good sleep in between).
I can’t wait for you to hear the rest of the EP! Bring on Bandcamp Friday!