One Month of ALBATROSS 🕊️

Good morning, Savs club!

Long time no blog, and I’m so sorry for the silence.

I’ve heard people say that creating a record can make a hermit out of the artist, but I think I’m only now fully understanding what that means.

ALBATROSS has been the most beautiful project I’ve ever had the privilege of creating, with so many incredibly capable hands helping me bring it to life. And now that it’s been out in the world for a whole month, I’ve been trying to soak in the gratitude I feel for everyone who has listened, shared it, bought something, sent me a message, come to a show, or simply stuck around to watch this little dream unfold.

So first: thank you. Truly.

An honest update: I’m pretty exhausted.

Since beginning the release of ALBATROSS, I’ve been diving into social media in a completely new way, working with friends on Meta ads, texting family and friends asking them to listen to the record, booking shows, traveling to play those shows, building a motorhome (we’ll get to her), AND recording another, somehow EVEN LONGER album with Max Gall, my best friend and LOML, as County Fair.

And then, somewhere in between all of that, there’s normal life.

Laundry. Bills. Cooking. Emails. Relationships. Trying to remember where I put my phone while actively holding my phone.

It feels a little bit like I’ve been compiling 100 hats on top of my head and walking around hoping none of them fall off.

But all that chaos to say:

I couldn’t be more grateful for this season.

For the first time in my life, I’m doing what I love.

I haven’t figured out the balance yet. I’m tired. I’m learning as I go. Some days I feel like I’m doing 47 jobs simultaneously and somehow still forgetting one.

But I’m doing what I love.

I’m doing what I love.

And people are listening.

YOU are here.

That still feels a little unbelievable to me. Having an audience of people who genuinely care about the songs I make is something I don’t ever want to become numb to.

WE’RE MAKING VINYL!!! 💿

An update I KNOW y’all have been waiting for:

WE OFFICIALLY RAISED ENOUGH MONEY TO MAKE THE ALBATROSS VINYL.

WE MADE IT.

I just sent everything off for vinyl mastering, and as soon as that process is completed, we’ll be placing the order.

That being said, we’re still hoping to sell about 20 more records before I close the preorder! The cost per vinyl goes down pretty significantly if we can place a slightly larger order, which means more of what we raise can go back into making music, touring, and keeping this whole little operation moving.

But regardless: the vinyl is happening. And that feels insane to type.

I also don’t want to keep the preorder open forever while everyone who already ordered patiently waits, so I’ll be closing it soon and getting these babies into production.

There is going to be a real, physical ALBATROSS record that I can hold in my hands. Something that started as voice memos, half-finished lyrics, and melodies floating around my brain is going to exist on vinyl because you guys helped me make it happen.

Thank you so, so much for your orders and excitement. This is genuinely a dream come true.

Vinyl production is expected to take around 3–4 months, so I’m hopeful everyone will have theirs by the end of the year. 🤍

And if you ordered a T-shirt, those are heading out today/tomorrow!

And then there’s Sunny 🚐

Unfortunately, our motorhome is not finished yet.

But honestly? This might be for the best.

The shows we’ve booked this fall have ended up being SO far apart that traveling everywhere in big ol’ Sunny girl wouldn’t actually be the most cost-efficient option right now.

For example, next week we’re driving to Wisconsin, which is about 11 hours there and 11 hours back. By the time we paid for all of Sunny’s gas, we’d spend more getting her there than we would on a place to stay.

So for now, the Honda Civic is our tour bus. 😂

She is incredible on gas.

She is considerably less incredible at holding two musicians, our dog Lottie girl, instruments, merch, clothes, camera gear, and everything else we’ve somehow decided we need to bring with us.

Sunny’s time will come. I think she’ll make a lot more sense when we’re able to plan longer stretches where shows are only a few hours apart and we can actually settle into places instead of zig-zagging across the country.

So, for now, I’m doing my best to trust the timing of all of it.

The record.

The motorhome.

County Fair.

Touring.

Figuring out how to make music into a sustainable life.

All these weird little pieces of a dream that I’ve been carrying around for years are starting to become real, just maybe not all at once or in exactly the order I imagined.

And I think I’m learning to be okay with that.

I really believe that, in due time, this dream will provide for us.

For now, we’re making it work.

And somehow, in the middle of the exhaustion and the Civic packed to the ceiling and the emails and the unfinished motorhome and the next record already being made...

I’m really, really happy.

Thank you for listening to ALBATROSS.

Thank you for helping me make vinyl.

Thank you for coming to shows.

Thank you for reading these ramblings.

Thank you for being here.

One month down.

Love,

Savs