Dylan Saunders, a huge favorite amongst Team StarKid fans for his powerful vocal stylings, has announced the release of Confluence, his debut solo studio album.
Confluence, slated for a fall release, is to be a full studio album, with elements of soul, pop, funk, rock, and at least twelve original songs. In the press release for Confluence, Dylan describes his solo album as “a collaboration in the truest sense of the word.”
I’m teaming up with musicians and songwriters from around the country to create one giant amalgamation of soul and pop. It is important to me to pay tribute to the artists and genres that have inspired me throughout my life, while still making music that interests and motivates us — imagine Otis Redding and Jamie Lidell teaming up to make a pop record! It has long been my dream to produce a record in this way and I couldn’t be more excited by the potential that exists for the project.
In order to record and release Confluence as an independent artist, Dylan Saunders and his team have launched a Kickstarter campaign to help fund the project. About half the $30,000 budget has been raised overnight. In regards to the increasingly popular method of “Kickstarting,” Dylan had this to say:
It honestly blows my mind to live in an age where we can communicate with a worldwide audience like this. I wanted to give people the option to contribute to this project in a way made sense to them. There are some incredible rewards for backers, and any funds raised past our original goal will mean a more polished, enhanced record down the line. We will be able to pay our musicians and songwriters more on the front end, we will have worlds more flexibility with added time in the studio (which means fewer limitations in what we can actually create); and we will ensure the best quality post-production team to mix and master the album once it has been recorded. Not being tied to a label is insanely daunting, but so much more freeing too.
Fans can use the Kickstarter as an “album pre-order,” to purchase an early-access digital download of Confluence, along with a range of other perks, ranging from a website credit to a home-made dinner from Dylan. This Kickstarter, unlike Team StarKid’s current Kickstarter for new musical Twisted, works on a package system, in which backers will receive not only the main reward listed for their donation, but all prior rewards from lower tiers as well.
You can watch the Kickstarter pitch video for Confluence, which features Dylan performing one of his new songs, below:
Confluence will be produced and engineered by Tomek Miernowski (past work includes The Pierces, Diane Birch, Mos Def, Darren Criss, Eli Paperboy Reed, Charlene Kaye, and Outasight). Contributing musicians and songwriters include Theo Katzman, Joey Dosik, and Jonah Smith.
Aside from his work with Team StarKid – he is a veteran of five musicals and two live tours with the company – Dylan is also a frequent musical collaborator with rapper and poet George Watsky. He sang alongside Watsky for a 22-city international concert club tour of the United States, Canada and the U.K., his voice is featured on Watsky’s re-imagined version of “Man of Constant Sorrow,” as well as on Watsky’s latest release, Cardboard Castles, which last month went to #1 on the hip-hop iTunes charts. Dylan will join Watsky again for 15 concerts this coming May for the month-long European leg of Watsky’s Cardboard Castles tour. We hope that once Confluence is released, we may see Dylan perform his own concerts as a solo artist!
What are your thoughts on Dylan Saunders releasing a solo album? Will you be backing the Kickstarter? Which other StarKids would you like to see a solo album from?
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