With this fundraiser we are asking for support towards the production of a limited edition LP of ‘Strange the Grass Grows’, the forthcoming debut album from the duo of Seamus Cater & Fredrik Rasten.

The LP will be released by Anecdotal Records in Amsterdam on February 14, 2026. It contains six pieces, three traditional and three original. The pieces were developed between 2021 and 2024 during work periods in Austria, Berlin and Amsterdam.

This duo project has been a labour of love with many kilometers traveled and concerts performed. The album is not subsidised, so any funds raised will help to reimburse our costs. The production costs for an LP are high and this campaign will help produce the physical edition of the music, without breaking the banks, while the record is being pressed. If you don’t have a record player, you can receive high quality downloads as pre-order and eventually full release.

The three traditional songs are Long Lankin, Death and the Lady and Sweet Lemeny, the latter two based on versions by Shirley and Dolly Collins and Peter Bellamy respectively, English musicians from the 60/70s British folk music revival. We are somehow updating the sound of this music by using a Just Intonation (JI) tuning system which was tuned onto a 1926 Wheatstone duet concertina by Seamus. Fredrik is known as a pre-eminent European practitioner of JI music and is connected to British traditional music through his long-term collaboration with Alasdair Roberts.

The three original songs were conceived by Seamus and are all based on folk tales. Seamus Heaney’s Beowulf gets a distilled telling in song form, and the myth of Pythagoras’ fifth hammer is also explored. The Podhajce Goat, the song from which the album title is derived, is a reworking of a tale within Olga Tokarczuk’s ‘The Books of Jacob’ translated by Jennifer Croft, by way of Olga, Pesel and Yente. These three songs, while not qualifying as traditional songs directly, act as a textual transmission across folk histories, myths and fictions, similarly to how songs spread across history and place.

We are making an edition of 300 records, 200 printed on mossy green vinyl and 100 black. Cover is designed by Mainly Afternoon, with drawing by Kuno River Hennig-Lee. The music was recorded and mixed by Seamus, and mastered by Jeff Carey.

Making this music has been a great pleasure and the production of the LP is a kind of celebration marking the completion of an ongoing journey in music making.

We are extremely grateful for your support!

Warm wishes,

Seamus & Fredrik

Offers in return for donations are listed below. Donate according to your area and what you would like to receive (please specify what you are donating for (LP according to location, number of copies, and/or other listed offers).

Any donation above €10 includes a digital download/streaming option through Bandcamp. If you would like to donate a higher sum than the listed price, that’s of course also very much appreciated.

€10 preorder download, via Bandcamp.

Green mossy vinyl (edition of 200):

€30 record in your hand - Amsterdam, Berlin, Oslo, Devon, by arrangement, at a concert, in person, via friends network, etc. Including download.

€40 LP by post within EU/UK/Norway. Including download.

€45 LP by post to USA. Including download.

€50 LP by post to further territories. Including download.

Add €5 to your donation to have your LP signed by Fredrik and Seamus

Black vinyl (edition of 100):

€25 record in your hand - Amsterdam, Berlin, Oslo, Devon, by arrangement, at a concert, in person, via friends network, etc. Including download.

€35 LP by post within EU/UK/Norway. Including download.

€40 LP by post to USA. Including download.

€45 LP by post to further territories. Including download.

Add €5 to your donation to have your LP signed by Fredrik and Seamus

Other special offers:

€100 Online, or in person if possible, Just Intonation lesson with Fredrik Rasten

€100 Online, or in person if possible, one on one songwriting lesson with Seamus Cater

€500 commission a traditional or original piece for our next album. You become the named patron of a future work and are kept up to date with writing, development, etc.

After any donation we will contact you to confirm what you are ordering. Or write something in the public message field.