The World To Breathe: a lockdown album featuring invented and handbuilt instruments

In March of 2020, New Zealand went into lockdown. I, off work, went into my basement, to see whether I could construct a cello, or something close to a cello, out of a fence post, a tin can, a guitar string, and some fishing twine. As it happens, I could. So I kept going, maybe out of curiosity, maybe as a coping mechanism. Every time I made an instrument, I wrote a song to test it out on. Given a global disruption, the likes of which hadn’t been seen in generations, there was plenty to write about.

By the end of the year, I had 17 instruments and 13 songs, which formed an album that very specifically documented the illogical mess that was 2020.

I had composed every song, written every lyric, recorded every track, performed every instrument, and made many of those by hand.

Not sure what to do with this project, I played it to a few people, and was overwhelmed by the response, and the calls for me to have it mixed, mastered, and released professionally.

They convinced me. While the original concept of the project was to do as much as I could with as few resources as possible (can’t pop out to the hardware store at alert level 4!), this step is outside of what I can do by myself. And the cost of what I can’t do myself comes out at $5,000.

All of this brings me here, humbly asking for your help, to play a part in this project, to support New Zealand art, and to get this music out of captivity and into the wild.

As a measure of my gratitude, there are rewards on offer for those who donate:

For donations of $25, hand-printed poster

For donations of $50, a t-shirt made by me

For donations of $200, a digital tour and demonstration of the instruments

For donations of $350, a personal Zoom concert of three songs from the album

I’m proud of this odd undertaking, and I’m excited for the opportunity to share it with other people. Thank you for your support, and for your time.