The Goal Was So Near

• Overview
• The Music
• Production
• Distribution
• The Packages

Overview

Even though Poligraf has been in activity since the beginning of February 1998, and despite having produced a large catalogue of original compositions, the band has yet to release its first album.

The Goal Was So Near is an attempt at rectifying this sorry situation.

After having tried traditional approaches such as soliciting the support of specialized record labels, the band members have decided to experiment with fan-funding to see if there is enough community support to enable them to achieve their aim of bringing into the world music that was written to challenge, inspire, and stimulate the intelligence of the listener, without concern for marketability and profitability.

The Plan presents the details of the music that we want to record, the production and distribution strategies, and the packages that contributors can pre-order to support the band members in their efforts.

The Goal Was So Near takes its name from the lyrics to Lifeforce, the second composition of the album, and hints at the difficulty of finding an approach that works for us.

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The Music

Over the course of the last 11 years, Poligraf, in its many incarnations, has produced enough music for at least 3 albums of an hour or so in duration, and two conceptual “mini-albums” of 35 and 25 minutes respectively.

The music exists in the form of MIDI files, and most compositions are completely written and arranged, mature pieces. Some of them have already been rehearsed, performed live, and demoed by the current line-up, and are more than ready to be officially recorded and offered to the world. Here’s an overview of the catalogue, along with links to the related introductory blog posts and audio clips :

• 1st Album : Samsara
  • The Idler
  • Lifeforce : part 1, part 2
  • 1000 Radios
  • Reinfused
  • Between Worlds : part 1, part 2
• 2nd Album : Satori
  • Into The Ashram
  • The Chrome Lake : part 1 and 2, part 3, part 4, part 5, part 6, part 7
  • Leaving The Ashram : part 1 and 2, part 3 and 4
  • SubjeKctiv : origin, evolution
  • Creeper
  • Void : intro, bridge, ending
  • Ignorant
• 3rd Album : Zen and the Art of Navigating the Cosmos (tentative)
  • Come Back : ending
  • In Our Space
  • Juggernaut : part 1, part 2, part 3, part 4, part 5, part 6
  • Polygraph : part 1, part 2 and 3, part 4
  • Stereoscopy : first verses and chorus, bridge, last verses and chorus
  • Stonecutter
  • The Winged Life
  • Waking In Heaven
• EP : The Dam
  • part 1 : Source
  • part 2 : River
  • part 3 : Rapids
  • part 4 : Dam
  • part 5 : Immersion
  • part 6 : Surface
  • part 7 : Flow
  • part 8 : Ocean
• EP : Lepufology
  • Lepufology 101 : Identifying Alien Leporids
  • Lepufology 201 : Investigating Burrows
  • Lepufology 301 : Racing Spacecrafts
  • Lepufology 401 : Responding To An Invasion
  • Lepufology Master Class : The Turnaround
• Not included on an album
  • Leftoverturned : part 1, part 2
  • Octoccata : introduction, orchestral variation, first rock variation, main theme reprise, second rock variation, third rock variation, ending
  • Questioning Tasteless Creepers : part 1
  • Uncoiling I
  • The Boulder Pecker

(Best place to hear them all in a row, although not in proper order : our page on Facebook)

The aim of the current fund drive is to collect enough money to record and distribute the first album, in the hope that the operation will prove profitable and provide the band with the resources needed for the recording and distribution of the remaining material.

The album will be entitled “Samsara” in reference to the cycle of reincarnation in Buddhist culture, which seems like a very apt name for this first effort given the band’s history. The cover artwork hasn’t been determined at this point.

Here’s the running order along with the current status of each piece :

• The Idler : written, arranged, rehearsed, performed live, and ready to record
• Lifeforce : written, with some lyrics currently under revision, mostly arranged, and partly rehearsed
• 1000 Radios : written, arranged, rehearsed, performed live, and ready to record
• Reinfused : written, arranged, rehearsed, performed live, and ready to record
• Between Worlds : written, apart for the possible addition of vocals in two of its chapters, and mostly arranged

For more details about the compositions, including artwork, lyrics, and audio & video clips, please see The Chapters.

We plan to include artwork for each of the pieces, and most probably for each chapter also, assuming that time and resources will allow.

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Production

Given the affordability of the technology needed to record music these days, the cumulative experience of the band members, and the satisfying quality of recording that we have achieved in the past using our limited means, we have decided to cut the costs of production by recording the bulk of the instruments in our own “home” studio, thus avoiding the fees of professional studios and technicians. Hopefully, this strategy will allow us to invest more resources in processes that we feel have a more defining impact on the overall quality of the finished product, namely mixing and mastering.

While in recording mode, various hired-guns will gravitate around the three musicians who form the poligrafic core.

We haven’t decided on specific collaborators at this point. Their identities will be announced in time, as we make our choices.

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Distribution

The album will be distributed via the band’s own on-line store, shop.poligraf.net (almost-but-not-quite ready), both on digital and physical support (i.e. mp3s encoded @ 320 Kbps, industry standard audio CDs, or USB keys).

Contributors to the present fund drive will be offered advanced downloads of each chapter as they are ready, and those who pre-order CDs will also have the pleasure of discovering the final product before the general public. By “advanced” (downloads & copies), we mean a few days before they’re made available to the general public (most probably 7 days, but will see according to your comments on the matter).

The chapters will be released as they are ready, regardless of the running order of the album.

There are 14 chapters in all, and “Countless Questions” is considered a double-chapter given its duration. Downloads will be available for purchase as singles for the price of $ 1,00 CAD each, except for “Countless Questions” which will be priced at $ 2,00 CAD.

We also plan to release “Total Poligrafic Experiences” (“TPEs”) , which is an ornate name for compilations containing a collection of “behind the scenes” materials, such as audio and video files, photos, drafts of lyrics, artwork, MIDI sequences, and miscellaneous documents. TPEs are related to specific experiences, such as the production of a particular composition, a live performance, or the recording process as a whole, and document the work in progress. They will be presented as sets of HTML documents, or in other words dedicated mini-websites on data disks, USB keys, or in downloadable zip archives.

A special TPE entitled “Endeavors Over The Years” will be included in some of the packages and will document the first 10 years of existence of the band and thus serve as an introduction to Poligraf.

In order to promote the material, we plan to document the work in progress on a regular basis using various information channels available on the WWW, such as blogs, photos and videos sharing sites, webcam streams, and social networks.

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The Packages

We have selected a hierarchy of angels as metaphor for the support levels, as the term “angels” is commonly used in the financial universe to refer to patrons. You can contribute by pre-ordering one the following packages :

• Angel
• Archangel
• Guardian
• Elder
• Cherub

For more details about each package, please click on the links in the list above, or see The Packages.

The money collected via this operation will be used primarily to record, produce and distribute the music. No specific target amount or end date have been set for the fund drive, and so eventual extra funds will be used to finance the production of supplementary material such as projections for live shows, conceptual videos, additional artwork, more TPEs, and future recording projects.

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