The Unfolding - Debut Album by Su-Min

1. About me 🙋🏻‍♀️

Hello there!

For those who don't know me: My name is Su-Min and I am a singer-songwriter with Korean and German roots. When I am not touring and traveling, you can find me mostly in Kassel, my home by birth, or in Madrid, my home by choice and the place I chose to record my first album, The Unfolding.

In the following, I will introduce you to this little world we have created on this album, the many wonderful people involved, the goal of this crowdfunding and, of course, what YOU, dear reader, are getting out of participating in it.

2. About the Album 💿

After playing my songs live for you about a hundred times, the moment has come to record my much requested first album that gives you the chance to listen to the songs on your on rhythm and that gives me the chance to explore and show you more of the potential of these songs.

Being in nature is s great source of peace and clarity for me, so it wasn't a big surprise when I found that my songs draw a lot of references to the natural world and its movements. In the case of this album, the predominant movement of the songs is "unfolding".

Each in their own way, the songs speak about the process of finding your way and your voice in a world that is constantly feeding us with external judgement. At worst, our endeavors can feel like a hopeless battle and referring to them as "unfolding" can sound a bit too soft or naive. However, I am fairly convinced that we cannot only elbow our way through life's hardships, so this is my invitation to re-frame the struggle and find a brighter side and a softer approach to things. The songs seek sensations of discovery, boldness and quiet wonder in the face of challenging twists of fate and they try to open a perspective of release, wonder and excitement in bringing forth something new, unexpected and unique.

These are the titles of the seven songs on the album:

1. How the Leaves (Korean version, translated by my dad)

2. Ein Stückchen Land (a.k.a. Mama)

3. The Rose

4. Jade Colored Waters

5. Buzz

6. From A Distance (Original by Julie Gold)

7. Sleeping in a Tote Bag

3. The Team🫛

To tackle all the different tasks and ensure top quality, I relied on a rich ecosystem of extremely talented, professional and inspiring people.

Recording the album wouldn't be possible without their unique contributions. In this section, I'll focus on my personal experience with them, but I very strongly advise you to go check out their other projects because it is pretty insane what they do. But no spoilers! With gratitude and excitement, I present to you:

Luismi Partera - Producer, arranger, guitarist and singer. Who knows when I would have gotten up the courage to produce an album if it hadn't been for Luismis initiative, support, trust and creativity? His work is the glue that holds all the pieces of work together and it has been essential in shaping the special, intricate but rich sound of this album.

Angel Calvo - Co-producer, arranger and singer. It gives me a profound peace of mind to be able to count on Angels great taste, know-how and calmness for the production of my songs. Amongst other things, he is carrying out the seemingly impossible task of helping me to make a couple of tricky choices.

Pablo Nadal - Drums. Pablo is a wonderful drummer and friend, and I feel extremely lucky that he's the one giving the heartbeat to my songs. He even made a new cymbal for the album, do I need to say more?

Jesús Caparrós - Bass. Jesús is one of the greatest discoveries I made this year! The lines he delivered give a whole new depth to the songs and I can't wait for you to hear them!

Álvaro Marabot - Electric guitar. Another super discovery this year! It absolutely blows my mind how Álvaro manages to add so much color and texture to the songs with just one instrument. Pure magic!

Kevin Vázquez - Keyboard. I met Kevin as the keyboarder of my gospel choir and I freaked out when he offered to help out on the album. It's an honor and pleasure to have him play on this album.

Ana Santa & Coro Soulful Voices - Gospel choir. Ana is the director of my beloved gospel choir family Soulful Voices and she has an energy that can change your life. For this album, she made an incredible choir arrangement which we recorded with some of the fantastic singers of our choir. I won't say more here cause words fall short on how special this collaboration is to me. When you hear it, you'll know.

Gran Dong - Gayageum (Korean harp). Gran and I met in a really lucky circumstance at one of her concerts a few days before I was going to to record How The Leaves, which is partly in Korean. I couldn't believe it when Gran immediately agreed on recording some Gayageum in the song. It's been such a dream, but I didn't dare to hope it was possible anytime soon. It's amazing to be wrong sometimes!

Julio Martin - Piano/keyboard. It was such a treat to be working with Julio, not only because of his wonderful playing but also for his kindness and creativity. He added some important elements to the dreamy little universe I am hoping to create for Buzz.

Shadday López - Percussion, recording and other shenanigans. Amongst other things, Shadday is a multi-talented multi-instrumentalist, friend, flat mate and teacher and he's actually contributing in more ways than I can list.

JM Rosillo - Sound engineer. I could tell you about all the amazing people Rosillo already worked with but I prefer to tell you that he is a very kind, caring and patient person. Recording with him was truly a gift and everything just sounds absolutely wonderful. Finally, I also feel a strong urge to tell you that he used to have a turtle in the studio called Pimienta.

Santi Quizhpe - Sound engineer. Santi will be doing the mixing and mastering and it sure helps to sleep well at night knowing that my songs are going to be in the hands of such a skilled, understanding and supportive person as Santi.

Elena Zängerlein - Design. Elena is a wonderful artist and friend with a beautiful soul, a super creative mind and a very unique style. We finished the artwork pretty early in the process and it helped me immensely to imagine the sound of the album as well. There has been a strong dialogue between art and music and so Elena's work is more that just a pretty album design - it is essential to the life and identity of the album.

4. Project Schedule 📅

To give you a little overview, I made the above graphic to see where we currently are in the project.

• The pre-production, where we decided on instruments, people, places, timelines and budget has already been completed successfully throughout fall and winter of last year 2024. In January and February we recorded the scratch tracks (= reference tracks for the other instruments).

• Arranging and recording of the rhythm section also has already been done in March and February and was a full success!

• After editing the rhythm section throughout spring, we recorded further instruments and voices in June followed by more editing.

• As of today, there are only a few more things left to be recorded and edited, such as some second voices and light percussion.

In October, Santi will begin to work on the mixing and mastering and I will do a deep dive into the world of producing CDs and merchandise. If all goes well, you will have the first single at your disposition in November and the merchandise articles at the beginning of the new year.

5. The Rewards and Add-ons🎁

Here you can find some more details about the items that you can get as a reward. If you are missing something in the reward packs I made, you can always customize your reward with Add-ons. There you can select any desired item to add to your reward at a slightly higher cost.

**** 📦🌏 Shipping terms ****

Shipping inside of Germany and Spain is included (except for the Canary Islands) . Shipping inside and outside the EU is also possible if you buy the according Add-on at the checkout: inside EU + Canary Islands for 4€ or non-EU shipping for 10€. Alternatively, I can keep your items until we meet in person. 🙏

The Album in digital form

You will get the album a month before its official release in a digital form which I will send to the e-mail address you indicate at the checkout.

The CD

As you can already guess, I am totally in love with the album design and highly recommend you get the CD to marvel at the intricate cover and browse through the magical booklet. The CD will come in a digifile format, which is basically a case made out of paper and carton that is way more pleasant that those jewel cases made of plastic, in my humble opinion. You can also get a discount by ordering the Reward "🦋 CD Bundle" that comes with two CDs to share with a friend.👯

If you want, you can upgrade to the next reward tier, the "Special Edition CD Pack🧚" and I'll be happy to sign it and write you a personalized "Thank You"-Note! ❤️

The Art Print "Ein Stückchen Land"

"Ein Stückchen Land" means "A piece of land" and it's the name of a song I wrote for my mom to thank her for giving me all the things, such as space, company, time and love, to grow up and unfold in my own way. I also thank her for being ok with me getting my hands dirty in this life, which I think we are meant to, but not all parents approve of. Elena made this beautiful design based on the song, which you can now have as an art print to hang on your wall of gift it to a loved one.

The Notebook "Ein Stückchen Land"

I am excited to offer you this pretty little notebook to give a home to all your wildest ideas. It also comes with the beautiful design of the song Ein Stückchen Land. Use it however you want, but please know, that those notebooks are hungry for messiness, experiments and adventures.

The Tote Bag with Cover Art

Our tote bag is hungry for mess as well! It comes with the design of the album cover and will be a faithful companion on your adventures by helping you keep your things together. As you may be able to tell from my song, I also tend to keep stuff like old diaries and notebooks with song ideas guarded in tote bags, kept safe until their time has come to shine.

Singing Class

My singing classes are focused on creating awareness and comfort with your voice and ease and enjoyment in singing. Let me know if you're curious but not sure yet and we can do a 30 minute trial class. In principle, the classes will take place online and have a length of 45 minutes. If you live in or close by Madrid or Kassel, we can also have them in person.

I Record You a Song

With this reward, I'll record a song of choice for you that could be one of my own or a cover in my own style, with simply my voice and guitar. I'll send it to you as digital audio file in home-studio quality to the e-mail address you indicate to me.

Home Concert

The concert can take place at your home or aother private location for you and your loved ones. Optional, you can book a concert as duo-format with no one less than MY MOM on the cajón. It will take about 1 hour and 30 minutes and you can choose if you prefer that I play my own songs or covers. I can bring amplification for about 40 people given there is a respectful listening ambience. You can propose dates already, but no specific date can be guaranteed so far. I am sure we will find a good solution, though! Travel expenses inside the Iberian peninsula and Germany are included. Travel to outside the Iberian peninsula and Germany will have to be added. If you want my mom to join, travel expenses to places farther than 100 km from Kassel will also have to be added.

Finally, if we manage to exceed the target sufficiently (approx. > 500 €) and I get to record a music video, all backers will be mentioned in the video! Of course you have the possibility to opt-out of this, just let me know.

6. What we need the money for 🧮

All the wondeful work my team is doing deserved to be rewarded, of course!

In total, 1950 € will go to the musicians who contributed to this album, 1200 € are for the production, 1600 € for recording and 1500 € are to be expected to be spent on mixing and mastering. The design of the album and booklet have a cost of about 700 €, the production of CDs and Merchandise including shipping are estimated to cost around 1500 €.

The printing of CDs in Germany has to be registered and paid for in advance to the German collecting society GEMA ("Gesellschaft für musikalische Aufführungs- und mechanische Vervielfältigungsrechte", engl.: "Society for musical performing and mechanical reproduction rights"). Additionally, I will have to pay a license fee for recording and publishing a cover, which in sum is expected to cost around 650 €.

The further cost are around 893 € and include things like travel expenses of the musicians, software costs and hospitality costs of approx. 500 €, as well as the service cost of Verkami of 6,5% + VAT of the sum obtained, which in this case amounts to approximately 393 €.

In total, the album has a cost of approximately 10.000 € (9,993 €, to be exact). I have already been able to pay a big share of these costs, but I need your help to complete the process. The deal I offer you is sharing 50/50, so I pay 5000 € out of my own pocket and the other 5000 € will be contributed through the crowdfunding. Sounds fair?

Should we be able to exceed the goal, the money will be used to record a music video (or two?) and to promote the release.

Potential Risks

Some risks that you should know about is that something happens along the process of recording the album that makes me have to cancel or delay, or that we won't be able to raise enough money to reach the goal. I am a very risk averse person, so I took some measure to limit these risks. First of all, I decided to launch this crowdfunding at a rather late moment of the project to make sure that the songs are on a good way and it is very unlikely that any important interruption may occur. Moreover, I decided to invest a large amount of my own money to have a more easily attainable sum as goal of the crowdfunding.

In the worst case, you will get a refund of your invested money and I'll inform you about when I launch the second attempt.

7. Further Info ℹ️

Stay up-to-date by following my project on Instagram or sign up on mail mailing list here.

To get in touch with me, get a better insight into my music and my projects, and to find me on different streaming platforms, check out my Linktr.ee.

Thank you so much for your interest and contribution! I am looking forward to bringing this album to life with you!

If you have any doubts or questions, please feel free to reach out to me! 🙏

Take care!

Su-Min