Darren Cross

Mission Statement: 

To independently crowd fund my beloved 2020 D.C Cross "Terabithian" album onto private press vinyl (250 copies).

Over the years many people have requested the album on vinyl and with your help we can make it become a reality!

With otherworldly escapist acoustic fingerpicking compositions soaked in ethereal reverbs, atmospheric port hole ambient dreamscapes, barely audible speaking samples and field recordings of my enviroment, doves humming, trees blowing, seasons changing, new day risings... i created, in lockdown - Terabithian - escapist pieces for guitar.

Lets rewind a few years<<<

Promo shot for D.C Cross - Terabithian album 2020.

Terabithian Advert 2020.

2020. 

Yep remember then.

As a musician being trapped at home because of Covid restrictions was pretty mad...did it even happen??? - like a forgotten bad dream no one talks about.

Once Jess, Stevie the dog and myself got into the swing of staying at home we used our time as best we could.

We both set up studios in the spare little rooms in our new rental home in Enfield N.S.W (after getting evicted out of our previous house 2 weeks before lockdown) and wrote music.

At the time i wrote:

"Equally parts ambient and Instrumental folk guitar influenced by American Primitive Guitarists, British folk revivalists and 90's new-age ambient music".
"Lots of weird stuff has happened to me and everyone so far this year..
the pandemic, we got evicted from our home, no income... a few weird personal things...i wanted to write an album not at all concerned with the current social and political state.. total escapism through music: a new world created..but in listening back to the completed album yesterday .. it feels ominously Utopian within a tide of nostalgic longing..... Terabithian is escapist pieces for the guitar- instrumental/ambient : now".

Terabithian Album cover.

Writing Terabithian in lockdown, out the back, 2020, Enfield N.S.W.

I used these two old vintage acoustic guitars i bought off ebay.

So i released Terabithian and it was very well received.

At the time, due to restrictions, no income and everything else i released the record digitally exclusively on bandcamp.

It is my most popular D.C Cross release so far.

Maybe it was the time- the mood- the sentiment but alot of you people fell in love with the record.

Which brings me to now!

Lots of people cherish the Terabithian album and vinyl freaks and friends have asked me to release the record on vinyl.

I run my own label and pay for my most recent releases to get manufactured - my last record  WIZRAD i paid for and im working on my new new record as i type - i will be financing the new project myself so i am hoping for some financial support needed to get Terabithian out in the world on vinyl - hence the crowd funder- its almost like a pre-order really.

I will getting 250 private press vinyl copies of Terabithian.

Matte finish, full colour inside sleeve. Its extremely expensive and complicated for this to be manfactured! I aim for it to be the best quality i can get happening!

Terabithian 2020 new album promo video.

Tyler Jenke previous editor of Rolling Stone reviewed Terabithian:

"D.C Cross’ ‘Terabithian’ is a high watermark of instrumental music.

The most impressive type of instrumental record is one that crosses boundaries, one that is accessible and enjoyable to anyone who gives it a shot, and one that requires no contextual explanation. D.C Cross’ Terabithian is just that – a perfect example of what an album of guitar-based instrumentals can and should be.

From the opening notes of ‘Giant Wave Of Instant Coffee Crushes Capitalism’ (no, not the Donald Trump sample, the guitar), it’s clear that this is a record nothing short of majestic. These finger-picked notes slowly trickle in before a sleek melody follows, with Cross’ deft sense of rhythm and harmony combining to create a magical beast that is as equally comforting as it is unsettling.

The theme follows in tracks like ‘Night Pill For McGill’, which could easily serve as a folky lullaby if you’re unable to track down old mate Brahms. While the bright nature of ‘Further Below And Beyond That Endone River’ helps provide a bit of aural optimism, the likes of ‘Rainer 20/20’ serves as an example of a track the late John Fahey would’ve been proud to compose himself.

More of the brilliance of Terabithian comes by way of its second half. In fact, while the first half of the record feels much more folky, upbeat, and easily digestible with shorter compositions, the latter half feels almost like an entirely different record, with longer, atmospheric, and contemplative tracks allowing you to get lost in the mix".

Doubtful Sounds Reviewed

"Amid textural field recordings he filters his playing through billowing, weightless reverb which adds an ambient shroud of nostalgia to the music, like an organic New Age meditation tape that tugs on heartstrings and memory – that innate urge to return to comfort and safety".

Via iphone hook up, the affable Simon Marnie had me on his ABC Weekend radio show.

Terabithian on bandcamp went gangbusters. Direct connect with a lot of listeners.

The record got played locally and on KEXP in Seattle, Radio Eins In Berlin and many more.

Terabithian was also included and highlighted in bandcamps New and Notable section.

Writing songs in our old shed at the rental property in Enfield, N.S.W.

Terabithian was created between February and April 2020.

No overdubs- all compositions played live with one instrument except for inclusion of field-sounds.

credits

released April 20, 2020

Written, recorded, mixed, produced, played and mastered by Darren Cross at Bernstein Studio.

I hope we can make this become a reality!

All my loving,

Darren.

By pledging to my project via the rewards you will again really really help me, a truly independent artist release a beloved album for you the fans of the record on to a format i believe in. AND if im lucky enough, any other money made over the target will help me survive as an underground artist and help with the future vinyl manaufacture of my new new album i am writing now! 

THANK YOU!!!

Photo from a live stream during the covid times with Yamaha Acoustic i used for half of Terabithian.

Voila! The vinyl dream. Hopefully we can reach the crowd funding target!

VINYL MANUFACTURING

$4400

ALBUM COURIER FROM VICTORIA

Approx $350

MASTERING FOR VINYL

Approx $550

POZIBLE / CREDIT CARD FEES

$500

TOTAL:  $5800

As always, most of you know, I am neurotically 100% independent, self-funded, self-managed, self recorded and self-edited. Some success of this latest album release on physical format rests entirely upon the interest you have shown in my work - the support that has enabled me to continue to create and release truly independent spirted music in Australia (and other small pockets of the world). 

Thanks heaps,

(fingers crossed),

Daz