Paula Cole wants You! Be part of the completion and release of her first independent album, "Raven".
Launched: Sep 22, 2012
Funding ends: Oct 29, 2012

Raven

Paula Cole here. Welcome to the inception of "Raven", my sixth studio album. I've been making albums since 1993 and I can honestly say this is an important one, a brilliant one. I'm now flying solo, off major labels and embracing the reality of going direct to my folks. Using my own funds, I've recorded the basic tracks for "Raven" but now need and ask your participation in helping me complete this work. I have more to do; more recording, mixing, mastering, manufacturing. Your involvement is this: you sponsor the album "Raven" here on Kickstarter. By becoming a sponsor/donor you'll pre-order the album, be entitled to unique opportunities and intimate proximity to the music-making . I'm excited about this new chapter of my career and I sincerely hope you'll support me as I go forth. Let's walk this path, make memories and amazing music together. Thank you for your consideration, Paula.

Nuts & Bolts

We're aiming for 37 - 37 days to garner a needed budget to complete this album, giving a fair shot in helping "Raven" fly. Watch the video above! Hear that music underneath? That is but part of a ROUGH mix of one of the new tracks. It's going to be epic. But I need you! Help me complete this album by becoming a donor. Choose from the packages here and contribute. You'll pre-order the downloaded single, cd, get a signed cd, even VINYL (yes, VINYL!) or a hand-painted guitar! And there are a lot of creative packages with opportunities to become a close part of the music or me! 37 days we have to hit our target of $50,000. If we are not successful, your credit card will not be charged. But if we reach our big goal, your credit card will be charged at the closure of successful completion of this campaign. And if by fabulous happenstance we achieve MORE than $50,000 I will absolutely need it and use it in marketing this album. Since I am no longer on major labels, I'm going commando here and need every dollar to reach fan consciousness with the news of "Raven" and the fact that I'm still here, full of heart. And so are YOU. We are here living and loving this life together and I'm incredibly grateful for you.

Tour

Please visit my website paulacole.com for tour dates and news. Also connect with me on my Facebook page facebook.com/paulacolemusic as I regularly riff. I am there a lot, sharing the world of P.C. with you. I will be touring and hope to see all of you in the venues, shaking, singing, loving, letting it OUT. I'll be traveling about the States, and hopefully the world, in support of these songs on "Raven".

Release

Should all go well here with the Kickstarter campaign, I will be aiming for a Spring 2013 release of "Raven" and will absolutely be in touch about all the details.

Details

Should you be a very generous donor and be one of the lucky recipients of a larger package (guest-singer, lunch partner, studio visitor, house-concert winner, i.e.) then we will work out the details in a mutually agreeable fashion for a mutually agreeable time. And it will be my honor and pleasure to know you! Physical items won (cds, vinyl, T-shirts, guitars etc.) will be shipped at time of completed manufacturing. Additional postage (anything over regular US domestic cd postage) will be charged to you. I'm estimating March-April 2013 and we will aim to deliver you your "Raven" albums BEFORE release! (Please no file sharing!) Studio visits will occur early months of 2013, possibly even end of 2012 at mutually convenient times. Touring/live opportunities will be given a range of a year+, at mutually convenient times.

Couldn't and wouldn't do it without you

You are life-blood in the process. Thank you.

Love,

Paula.


paulacole.com

facebook.com/paulacolemusic

RISKS AND CHALLENGES

This is my sixth studio album, the fourth one I am producing myself. I feel confident that given the funds I can complete this album.

Ouch, if I'm reading this correctly the cd is $25?? That's a bit pricy Paula............... Is the $15 download lossless?

Project Update #6: Flying
Posted by Paula Cole
Newest update regarding "Raven", the new independent album from me to you:
We have successfully attained our Kickstarter goal. I'm stunned. Day 18 proved to be a big day and here we are over 100%. I'm humbled, I'm grateful, I thank you.
Not only do we touchdown to complete the "Raven" Kickstarter campaign, we build our team. I'm more in touch with you than I ever have been during the days of major labels. I'm reading your notes every day, writing to you, just appreciating you deeply and sincerely, so grateful to be here. We will make this beautiful piece of work and we are in this together.
And we still have 19 days.
So although you're part of my inner circle, if there's someone you know out there considering PRE-ORDERING the Kickstarter-exclusive album HERE & NOW, or thinking about joining this team and being part of this very cool experience, do so now before the last 19 days expire:
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/pau ... bum-raven-
There are no words to express this gratitude.
So much love,
Paula.

Video premiere: Paula Cole's 'Eloise'
Brian Mansfield, Special for USA TODAY6:42p.m. EDT March 19, 2013

Paula Cole's haunting Eloise is a story of jealousy and infidelity told in verbal shadows and snapshots.

The song's video, premiering exclusively at USA TODAY, heightens its sense of noirish dread.

"It's like a series of Polaroids from stock images," says Cole, who includes the song on her new album Raven. The video, directed by Martha Jane Wayne and Erica McDonald, parallels the song's story by re-editing footage from old public-domain films. " One of them literally came from a film called Jealousy," Cole says. "It was about how a woman is supposed to be so faithful and wonderful in her marriage, as is a man, and it showed the man kind of coming apart and her thinking about straying. Those images were perfect. These are little snapshots of America that illustrated the narrative so perfectly."

Cole originally wrote Eloise as a country waltz for Solomon Burke, though the late soul singer never recorded it.

"This sat in my coffers, and it tickled my unconscious," she says. "I didn't change the gender, so it could really be about anybody — a man and a woman, or a woman and a woman. I love that it can be for any couple."

The song continued to evolve in the studio, with Cole initially trying an arrangement that she compares to Bob Seger's Silver Bullet Band. "But I fired the 'Silver Bullet Band,' and we brought it back to a sort-of-Bruce Springsteen, humble place."

Cole, who won the 1997 best new artist Grammy, calls Raven "a child I had to bear. ... I don't know why I called it Raven. It was a very intuitive naming.The icon, the symbolism, the word is a powerful one — I feel like I am the Raven, and you'll see that in the artwork.

"This album has older songs that have stayed with me and brand-new ones. These songs spread over years, and they might not have seen their day. But now they are."

While some of Raven's songs, like Eloise, come from Cole's love of storytelling, "I also have more almost-alternative rock influences showing, as well. Some of that music-geek stuff that really floats my boat!"

Cole funded the making of Raven, her first independent album, via the website Kickstarter. More than 900 fans helped her raise $75,000, after she set an initial goal of $50,000.

"It's a way to finance your project, create team spirit and not wind up in the hole financially," she says. "You come out owning your intellectual property — that's a first for me. How wonderful to actually own my work now. It's a tremendous feeling."

While a handful of donors contributed $2,500 or more to Cole's project, half of them donated just $25, and they'll receive a signed CD and a digital version of the album with a bonus track for their contributions. "That's your folks — and they're important folks," Cole says. "It makes me love them all the more."