What’s it all about?
Hi, my name is Helaine Vis and I’m a singer-songwriter. For the past two years I’ve been touring all over Poland together with guitarist Grzegorz Skoczylas. We’ve played in all kinds of venues, cafes, music clubs, even in private apartments, houses and on the streets. All this thanks Borówka Music, our music agency.
After all this coming and going it’s finally time to release our debut album. Some of the songs that you’ll find in it are almost 10 years old! So you could say that a good part of my life is narrated in the lyrics, and now I would like to share it with you.
We went into the studio with producer Kuba Kasznia by the end of 2019 and started working on the record. The album is almost ready, but…!
Releasing an album is a financial challenge. We need, therefore, a bit of your support.
Get a taste of it! First single „Inside Life”
To give you a little taste of the album’s sound, we have released the single „Inside Life,” which you can listen to here:
This song video is 100% homemade! It was shot with an iPhone in my apartment in Kazimierz during the lockdown enforced during the pandemic. It is basically me spinning and singing on a swivel chair. It’s amazing how creative and resourceful you can get when you’re stuck at home for two months with nothing but yourself and your passion.
Helaine Vis? Who’s that?
Before Helaine Vis (or perhaps behind Helaine Vis), there’s me. My name is Anna and I was a very shy girl who liked music and sang a little bit (mostly for myself, so no one could hear it). Till the age of 15 almost nobody knew I sang, including my closest friends and family. From performances at school, small town events to recording covers on YouTube, I became a bit more confident and started to open up with time.
Writing songs has always been very natural to me. It was something like writing a diary. When I began to write, I never thought about sharing it with other people. I just wrote!
I met Grzegorz Skoczylas, my guitarist, in 2016 and he has helped me take my songs to another level. He turned my songs from sketches, raw recordings and simple chords into real songs. Two years later we began touring and since 2018 we’ve played almost 60 concerts in 40 different cities in Poland.
2018 and 2019 - Helaine Vis and Grzegorz Skoczylas on tour.
Have your cake and eat it too - not one, but two albums
How to add new instruments and new harmonies without messing up and taking away all what we already have? Rearranging the acoustic songs we’ve played for the past two years turned up to be a real challenge. We had to be open to new ideas and trends, but still be careful not to change too much. We spent hours and hours thinking how to do this right!
Suddenly we had this idea: Why don’t we just make a main album and an EP with some sentimental versions of those songs. This way we can have our cake and eat it too.
At its roots our sound is purely acoustic, guitar and voice. So at the base of all the musical development and new arrangements, we kept that raw untouched versions of our songs and placed it on our EP "bye acoustic".
An Expensive Game
Releasing an album, especially a DIY album is pretty expensive. Even though it’s our first album, we wanted it to be of the highest quality possible. We did as much as we could ourselves (music video, photoshoots, album cover, teasers etc), but there are costs we can’t avoid:
Recording studio
Producing the album
Hiring session musicians
CD pressing
Printing the digipaks
Album promotion
Why crowdfunding?
With no big record label behind us, we are completely independent. We’re in this alone… or are we? We believe we have you, our audience, and that you are our fuel!
When I heard about crowdfunding I thought it could work for us. I like the fact that whoever decides to support us will get something back. Depending on the amount you donate, you will get a suitable price, as well as an album, an EP and concert tickets etc.
Forever on our album and forever in our hearts
Your support means everything to us! If you choose any of the following options to support the making of the album your name/nickname will be stamped forever on the album page.
Partners:
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Social Media: