Just a quick note to let you know that we are preparing two very different recording projects right now.  They are different from one another, and also different from the first two songs we released.

The first one is Bob’s one-man mini-musical “Promised Land” which features four original songs.  We received Minnesota State Arts Board grant to create this recording, and while the original musical is in Hmong, the English version of the songs will be released under the Minnasia moniker, as Ari is the producer/arranger/mixer for the project, and he contributed the English lyrics to Bob’s original songs in Hmong.

This recording features a drummer/percussionist, a stand-up bassist, a cellist and a flutist, in addition to Ari on acoustic guitar.  The all-acoustic recording has a serene, classical-like production.  If you’re curious Ari’s Sound Cloud has the rough mixes of the Hmong versions up for a limited time.  We’re in the midst of recording the English vocals and after that, all that’s left is to finalize the mix and get it mastered.

The other project is called “Raw Sessions” and these will again feature acoustic guitar with a small drum kit and an electric bass.  This stripped-down production is meant to serve as quick capturing of our songs, mainly for intimate acoustic/coffeehouse settings.  (though this being Minnasia — it’s still going to rock in its own ways)

Ari’s prepping the instrumental parts right now, we have about 5 songs in progress but many more songs are in the can.  We are excited about these Raw Session recordings, as they are so much quicker to put together than full-production recordings,  yet they will still serve as blueprints for these songs — the character of our songs will shine through.  Oh, and we plan to record an astonishingly different version of Bleeding Redwood in one of these sessions also.

Can’t wait to release these recordings and share our music with you!  To learn when these songs will become available, please connect to us via Twitter, Facebook or YouTube.