After a successful Kickstarter campaign, Jaime Lyn Beatty of Team StarKid has released her debut solo EP, Dolphin Safe Tunes on iTunes and Amazon today.
Dolphin Safe Tunes, the first solo release from StarKid’s Jaime Lyn Beatty, was given a public release on iTunes and Amazon today after a very successful crowdsourcing campaign.
The EP, developed in conjunction with Michael Malarkey (musical director for Second City) is a 5-song collection of original music inspired, Jaime Lyn cites, by the sounds of Kenny Loggins, Belle and Sebastian, Eartha Kitt and Stevie Wonder.
Dolphin Safe Tunes was brought to life by a Kickstarter campaign launched on January 7 in order to raise funds to produce and finalize the EP. The campaign offered a variety of backer perks, ranging from a personalised postcard to a digital download of the album to a private Skype concert. Higher levels of support continued the ocean theme of Dolphin Safe Tunes, and include a day trip to Shedd Aquarium or a dolphin-swimming course with Jaime Lyn. The campaign raised over $20,000 from the worldwide supporters of Jaime Lyn and Team StarKid.
On the Kickstarter homepage, Jaime Lyn writes:
Dolphin Safe Tunes is a collection of songs I’ve been working on for the past two years. This EP is my maiden voyage into songwriting and I’m all at once excited, terrified, and jazzed (all puns, ALWAYS intended)! A tip of the hat to classic cabaret acts and Motown funk, these tunes are enriched with equal parts silliness and sass! I can only hope you have as much fun listening to them as I had writing them!
Watch as Jaime Lyn records Dolphin Safe Tunes in this video advertising the EP release:
Jaime Lyn, who played the lead roles of Ginny in A Very Potter Musical and Sally in Me and My Dick, is widely renowned as Team StarKid’s most powerful female vocalist and was a featured soloist on both 2011′s SPACE Tour and 2012′s Apocalyptour. Her vocal talent, honed and showcased on Dolphin Safe Tunes, is a unique mix of rich tones from the golden era of soul and the quirky indie-pop style that’s found such popularity lately as female artists like Marina and the Diamonds and Icona Pop rise to fame.
Vocal stylings aside, the musical backbone of the record is, as promised, all about jazz, motown, cabaret and swing, but the most fascinating aspect of Jaime Lyn’s creation is her ability to embody character through song – on a listen-though of the EP, you can hear the change in perspective – one song here from an ingénue, one there from a Disney villianess, and another from an inspirational, sassy, motherly figure.
Her shift between personas, the requirement of accessing different aspects of not only emotional depth, but also technical vocal skill, is no small achievement. Each track is different, no track is less genuine than the one prior, and the five songs knit together in a way that doesn’t jar the listener, despite the variety presented. If Jaime Lyn Beatty was aiming to create a collection if music that showcased her incredible range as a performer, she’s nailed it.
Jaime Lyn Beatty’s Dolphin Safe Tunes is available on iTunes or Amazon today.