Prince Albert resident Kayleigh Skomorowski wears many hats in the community.
She is a choir and band teacher at St. Mary High School, a director with the Prince Albert Concert Band, a wife and mom to two young boys.
Skomorowski is also a musician herself and has started a crowdfunding for the release of her second album ‘Stay Wild’.
It’s been 10 years since the singer/songwriter released an album.
“It was kind of always in the long term plan for myself. But having everything kind of put on pause definitely moved up the timeline for sure,” Skomorowski said.
She writes from a piano perspective and will also have vocals recorded on top of a full band. As for the theme of the album, Skomorowski says she’s experienced significant changes in her life since the release from her first album.
That includes getting married, having kids, and living through the ongoing pandemic.
“Some of those themes are definitely prevalent in (the album),” Skomorowski.
She’s been sitting on most of the music for a few years now and after being pushed by a friend to record a new album, Skomorowski said now is the ideal time.
“With everything being shut down and the stuff that normally makes me pretty busy in my life all kind of being on hold, I thought it was a good time to focus on that,” she told the Herald.
Skomorowski is using Kickstarter to raise money that will go towards pressing vinyl records of the album.
She’s looking to raise $2,800, which is enough to press between 100 and 200 vinyl records depending on the demand. The campaign is an “all or nothing” which means if Skomorowski doesn’t make her goal, money will be refunded to donators.
As of Tuesday afternoon, the Kickstarter was just shy $307 of its goal. The campaign can be found at http://kck.st/3qsv4sV and will end on Feb. 15.
Skomorowski said she has comfort in knowing that once the goal is reached, she’ll be able to run her album on vinyl.
She says there’s a couple of reasons why she wants to roll out the album on vinyl. She realizes that people often buy CD’s as a way of supporting artists but Skomorowski doesn’t own a CD player anymore. She realizes many of her friends are consuming music more and more on vinyl.
Her husband had a few vinyl records pressed of Skomorowski’s first album.
“Just to be able to experience that and listen to it that way has brought a lot of value and I find I listen to it more,” Skomorowski explained.
Skomorowski said her family is excited for the album release, especially her two kids who are big fans of her music. A few of her songs are written about her two sons who are 4 and 6.
She added production has been interesting, as her and other band members try and produce work while following COVID-19 public health measures.
Skomorowski’s band mates include Joel Rohs on guitars and bass and Danny Earl on drums. The album is being recorded by Rohs with Tri Sonic Sound.
The band members and Skomorowski have gone into the recording studio one at a time to limit contact.
“There’s always the risk for myself, working in a school, am I going to end up having to self-isolate and not being able to go in and do the vocals that week,” Skomorowski said. “There’s always that looming possibility that things will get stalled.”
Skomorowski will be releasing and performing Stay Wild on April 7 at the E.A Rawlinson. She’s planning on having merchandise and the vinyl album available for sale at the show. The album will also be released on streaming platforms like Apple Music and Spotify.
For more information on Skomorowski, visit her website at http://kskomorowski.com/.
Ticket information for the April 7 show is available at https://www.earc.ca/kayleigh-skomorowski.
