Dear friends, family, and community,

Liv & I hope that this is finding you cozy, ideally with a warm beverage in-hand and something woolen over-shoulder.

I’m writing you today with big news, a small ask, and then a pretty big Ask.

The big news is that on March 5 we’ll be releasing our next record: Petrichor.

It is a curious, compassionate, and uncompromising body of work, and we’re immensely proud of what we’ve created.

The asks, both big and small, are what come before we get the catharsis of sharing this thing with you, and hopefully many other folks who care to listen. We’re asking, hard as it is, because we need your help to bring Petrichor to life. 

In writing and arranging these songs, Liv & I were deeply inspired by written works from Diana Beresford Kroeger, Annie Dillard, John O’Donohue, Blindboy Boatclub, Mary Oliver, and Carl Sagan. If you were to draw a six-way venn diagram laying-out the themes they all explore, I’d reckon that “finding wonder in the more-than-human world,” “seeking ecstatic truth in toggling between the micro and macro perspective,” and “relishing in the practice of curiosity” might live in that awe-struck centre section. Those themes, alongside many others (such as “What do Starlings have to say about settler colonialism, anyway?” and “How do I differentiate between glamour and Beauty?”) informed how we approached this work. 

We summoned our courage and decided to take the leap into self-producing, finding many lessons waiting for us there. With the trust, patience, and guidance of phenomenal collaborators, we’ve created something more "us" than we've ever made before.

Making an album is expensive, regardless of whether “expensive” means “major-label-funded and every-meal-catered” or “this budget is so tight, we can’t even afford the characters to spell-out DIY.” If you’re wondering, we try to err on the scrappy-yet-humane side of the latter. 

Our approach to Do-It-Yourself on this project has involved striking a careful balance between the things we can (and often, love to) do ourselves (such as thousands of creative artistic and logistical decisions, or home-cooking meals for everyone involved in the recording over a two week period), and those that are much better handled by the experts (such as playing flute like Anh Phung). 

We recorded Petrichor in a way that feels a little old-fashioned. We spent fourteen days and nights holed-up in a studio situated above a mechanic’s shop out in the boonies, recording songs together in a room. It was thrilling, it was challenging, it smelled like engine exhaust, and at times it got weirder than we’d initially expected - possibly due to all the exhaust we inadvertently inhaled. Our in-the-room approach imbued the album with a sense of immediacy, tactility, and humility that is palpable as you listen. Truly, I can’t wait for you to listen.

We are proud that Tragedy Ann has always been an independent project - there is no label, agent, management or administrative assistant here, and we refuse to use AI in what we do. We are sending every email, booking every tour, writing every newsletter, designing every social media post, and coordinating every project - all while working day jobs in order to level out the peaks and valleys of working in the arts in 2026, and theoretically, making art while we’re at it.
In spite of how much of this we do ourselves - often in the interest of artistic integrity, occasionally out of financial necessity - recording this album has still been expensive. In hiring peers to play on the record, engineer, mix, take photographs, or arrange the graphic design, it’s of the utmost importance to us that they are paid fairly for their time, artistry, and labour.

Unfortunately, the intersectional (and often coordinated) agendas of corporate greed (the average artist needs to have an album streamed ~500 times on sp*tify in order to earn the $20 they’d have made from a single CD sale) and governmental austerity (arts and culture funding is often the first to the chopping block, even as need increases) mean that these costs are more daunting than ever for most artists, including us. Regardless of whether or not you contribute to this crowdfunding campaign, we encourage you to take a look at the arts & culture platform of anyone seeking public office, and to advocate for the inclusion of arts in our public budgets. You can measure a society by how it cares for its artists.

Before we went into the studio, we were privileged to receive a recording grant from the Ontario Arts Council. This gave us the go-ahead funding to swing for the fences, and make this in the way that we’d envisioned: taking our time, committing our presence, experimenting, and ultimately, making the dang record that we’d envisioned. And yet, that grant makes up $8,470 of an $88,558 pricetag for this album project and release.

To be clear: that pricetag does not include paying ourselves for writing, performing on, or producing Petrichor, nor for any of those fulfilling-yet-labour-intensive DIY roles. This is just to break even. While we’ve talked so many times about it between the two of us, and are truly at peace with it, somehow it’s still difficult to write here.

In reality, asking for help is the small ask, here.
In fact, the big Ask is asking for you to trust us that it will be worth it.

We’re asking you to trust that when we and our collaborators have invested this kind of time, care, money, and effort into a project, the result isn’t something fleeting, glamorous, or trend-seeking.

We’re asking you to trust that what we’ve committed to Petrichor is indicative of the value we see in it, and suspect you’ll see in it, too. In making this record we have sought wonder, beauty, connection, and kindness, and are left feeling elated to share everything that we’ve found. To paraphrase Mary Oliver, we have paid attention, been astonished, and are ready to tell about it.

We’re asking you to trust that when we work with peers (all of them at the top of their game, by the way) to design a CD or Vinyl layout or develop a merch item, it’s because we feel a responsibility to represent these songs in a way that is thorough, authentic, and worth being in relationship with.

All of this brings me to the ask: Will you help us?

And then the Ask: Will you trust us?

In the spirit of financial transparency, Liv has designed some nifty infographics (see below) to give you an idea of the kinds of expenses we are incurring with this project - as well as the funding we have to work with, hopefully including some support from you.

We know that within this community there is a wide array of financial abilities and realities. Take a look below to see the various Gifts of Gratitude we’re offering by way of thanks for what you’re comfortable sharing with us - album pre-orders, lots of new and exciting merch and some fun ways we can share time and space together. There’s also an “open donation” option if you’d rather name your offer, and would prefer not to receive something in return. We've created this campaign in the hopes that our immense gratitude for your support is felt unquestionably. 

These Gifts of Gratitude are hinting at what’s to come from Tragedy Ann: we will be bringing the album with us on tour, along with some thoughtfully created merch. We’ve sourced materials as locally and sustainably as possible, and have enjoyed collaborating with many incredible artists and makers to help manifest Petrichor physically. 

This campaign will run until December 1, 2026, and we’ll mail out all the physical Gifts of Gratitude (or hand-deliver in Guelph, along with a cash refund for the shipping charges) in advance of the album release on March 5, 2027. We will share progress updates on this page and our social media from time to time to keep you in the loop. 

If you’re looking for non-monetary ways to help, you’d be shocked by how far these can go: 

- Tell a friend about us  
- Share this crowdfunding page with friends who you think might like to contribute 
- Sign up for our mailing list 
- Reply to our mailing list (we <3 penpals!) 
- Host us for a house concert 
- Encourage friends & family to attend a concert* 
- Ask your favourite radio station to play our music 
- Ask your favourite festival to consider us for their lineup
- Engage with us on social media 

Gratitude is increasingly central to this project, and we don’t take any of your kindness, enthusiasm, or generosity lightly. Thank you for reading, and considering how you might take part in bringing Petrichor to life.

With love, light, and excitement, 

Braden & Liv 

PS - If you are uncomfortable making payments through our website, please email us at tragedyann@tragedyannmusic.com to arrange a cash, e-transfer or cheque contribution.

PPS - tour announcement coming soon!

LIV'S FAVOURITE: INFOGRAPHICS!