We're always waiting for something. But how do we wait?
As singer/songwriter The Forest Archive, I love to take ancient things - Scripture, prayers, hymns, Christian traditions - and breathe fresh life into them. And so for years, I've been writing new songs and re-imagining old ones, inspired by the season of Advent, the four weeks leading up to Christmas. In contrast to the rush of our consumerist culture to capitalize on Christmas profits and deals, Advent helps us create time and space to wait, to slow down, and to prepare our hearts for the good news of Christ's coming.
In our stressed out, distracted, oft-unmoored lives, we need that. If we want to begin to grasp the fulness of who Christ is, we need empty space to become familiar with our unfulfilled desires and why we need him. Advent offers it. It's like an antidote to consumerism, a bridge between Jesus as the superficial Sunday School answer and the longings of our hearts.
I'm grateful for the space Advent opens up in me, and it's my hope to record an album that can help do the same for you. The album will be a diverse collection of old and new, personal and traditional, brooding lament and joyful expectation... And I'm calling it "Always Waiting".
With your help, I'm looking to record an album of 10-12 songs over the spring and summer of this year, aiming to release it in time for Advent 2025. Exactly how many songs will depend, in no small part, on you! Working on a very lean budget, I've estimated it will take about $12,000 to record a 10-song album.
To record one song professionally, it will take me about $1150. That includes:
$525 for recording (for 1 day in the studio)
$525 for mixing
$100 for mastering
Add $4-500 to commission some fantastic album art, and that's $12,000!
If I were to take things up to an even higher level of quality, $14,000-16,000 would enable me to:
-at $1150 per song: record 1-2 more core songs (which I have ready and waiting)
-at approximately $100 per person, per song: compensate some of the marvelous guest musicians and singers who will join me for this album
-at $200 per instrument per song: work with a friend to enrich the music by incorporating some amazing folk instrumentation like the bouzouki, balofan, or Iranian raf drum
-at $3-500+ for a CD + insert run: invest in high-quality physical CD printing + distribution rather than print at home
Making these songs has been a way for me to welcome the ancient news of Christ's birth into my own heart. I've needed them. And I suspect our churches and culture, too-oft left hungry and grasping for the deeper meaning of Christmas, needs more of these kinds of songs, too.
Would you help me to record "Always Waiting"?
Jason Wood
AKA The Forest Archive
Perks
I will lead a 2-3hr “Sacred Song-writing” workshop for your community OR provide 2-3 hr of personalized song-writing coaching, + invitation to early-access listening party, album credits, physical thank-you card, early digital access to album, 2 signed CDs, + digital access to album art
You can suggest an Advent-oriented line or lyric and I will include it in the album OR join the Forest Archive choir in the studio, + invitation to early-access listening party, album credits, physical thank-you card, early digital access to album, 2 signed CDs, + digital access to album art
Basically, I owe you. Big time. And honestly, I probably can’t thank you enough. You can receive any/all of the above as desired, + I will work closely with you to determine any personalized, potentially on-going ways I can collaborate with you or your community!
Highlights
See all activity6Music
You can find other music by The Forest Archive at:
http://theforestarchive.bandcamp.com
Or you can stream my music on:
Activity
I will lead a 2-3hr “Sacred Song-writing” workshop for your community OR provide 2-3 hr of personalized song-writing coaching, + invitation to early-access listening party, album credits, physical thank-you card, early digital access to album, 2 signed CDs, + digital access to album art
You can suggest an Advent-oriented line or lyric and I will include it in the album OR join the Forest Archive choir in the studio, + invitation to early-access listening party, album credits, physical thank-you card, early digital access to album, 2 signed CDs, + digital access to album art
Basically, I owe you. Big time. And honestly, I probably can’t thank you enough. You can receive any/all of the above as desired, + I will work closely with you to determine any personalized, potentially on-going ways I can collaborate with you or your community!
