Support Reishi Maylen's Album & Poetry Book Launch

My name is Scott "Reishi" Maylen Somerville, and I am a folk singer, songwriter/composer, multi-instrumentalist (guitar, fiddle, Appalachian dulcimer, Celtic harp, drums, pipe organ, and more), open mic host, jam leader, and music teacher based in Ontario, Canada. I have come to be known for my wildly-ranging psychedelic folk-rock style, vibrantly creative & improvisational spirit, purposeful songcraftsmanship, & exploratory multi-instrumentalism. If you have seen me perform in person, perhaps you can attest to this.

I am creating this Go Fund Me campaign to source financial support for the production and promotion of my debut triple album - yes, you read that correctly, triple album! - accompanied by an illustrated poetry book of the album's lyrics. Through the last decade I've been building up a repertoire of close to 50 original songs, all with purposeful and thematically interconnected lyrical poetry touching on themes like environmental re-connection, nomadic travels, festival culture, intentional community, the journey to peace, inner wisdom, mysticism, ancestral healing, ceremony, Celtic mythology, bardic inspiration, re-awakening the sacred masculine, finding true love, and more. The time has come to get these songs out to the world and to kick start my career on a more global scale beyond the immediate reach of my local music community.

While I am currently producing many songs in my home studio and have been performing much of the instrumentation on my own, I wish to hire other musicians to join in on the tracking, as well as other co-producers with more advanced capabilities than what I have on my own. I also plan to give this album proper promotional treatment, which is said to require 5 times more funds than the production process to make it accessible to the wider music industry, from creating music videos and promotional online content to pitching songs for sync licensing and playlists to hiring promotional agencies to help facilitate successful promotional campaigns. Added on top of this are start-up funds to manufacture vinyl records and CDs and to hire illustrators and publish the accompanying poetry book.

With your financial support, we can manifest this vision together. Please consider donating today and sharing this fundraiser with your community. All who contribute to this campaign now will receive a discount on the release at cost, and for contributions over $99 you will receive a free copy of either the vinyl or CD plus the book upon release.

More about Reishi Maylen:

Music has been a prominent part of my life since I was a youngin, and it has facilitated many wonderful adventures in my life so far, from a couple hundred or so localized performances across Ontario over the last decade to touring across BC in support of the Fairy Creek blockades to teaching group songwriting in a northern First Nations community through ArtsCan Circle. Currently, my musical journey has brought me back to Toronto to learn audio production at Seneca College, which is greatly supporting my growth through the creation of this album.

I've performed and/or recorded with many different artists and bands, including Freedom’s Light (Irish Folk), Spirit of Symbiosis (New Age Folk Jamband), St. Homer (Folk Rock Jamband), The Everflowing (Soul/Folk Rock), Talise and the Swampy Mountain Lads/Twilight Troubadours (Old-Time Blues Folk), Snowlion (Kundalini Mantra Electronica) Zuffalo (Psychedelic Jamband), Keith Whiteduck (Jamband), Kansas-lee and Johnny Sauvage (Folk/singer-songwriter), Eric Mandala (World Fusion), Erin Blackstock (Country), Martian Broadcloak (Psychedelic Shoegaze), Cubed1 (Electronic/Fusion), The Vortexans (Grateful Dead Tribute/Outlaw Country), Mary-Kate Edwards (Folk/ Singer-Songwriter), Peace Sand Rest (Psychedelic Punk), and A Fellow Ship (Folk/Soul).