Announcing the "Your Heart" album - a completely new concept

Nearly 3 years on from my last album release, I have taught myself so much that I am bursting to put it all together into one extraordinary project. Not only have I written and produced a new album called “Your Heart”, which is a million miles more rounded than my previous releases (let’s call them my training ground), but I then also decided to release this album inside a book so that I can attempt to channel all my creative arts into one single product.

But how can I do that? Well, the book needs to be digital so that it can be distributed to digital devices, it needs to be capable of containing multimedia (songs, images, videos), and the book needs laying out to replicate a vinyl album. It also has to have additional and attractive content to make the viewer/listener consider it as a worthwhile purchase.

Despite quite a few set-backs the digital book is now complete and is also being made available as a 7x7 book (which includes the digital version), this being the size of a vinyl single so that it can be stored inside a record collection rather than on a bookshelf. I would have loved to have put a 12” book (vinyl album size) onto the market but it would cost me nearly £100 to produce even before adding a margin and postage, so I don’t expect there would be any takers.

That’s not to say I won’t still be releasing a digital album onto the streaming market, and having some CD’s manufactured too, but the book concept will be giving so much more and can even be carried around on a smartphone… probably the 1st ever “book album”

“Your Heart” will be officially released by Spotify, Amazon Music, Apple Music, Tidal etc on 31st October 2023 and contains 15 album tracks for streaming or downloading.

Both the digital and physical books are available now from this website (send me an email), costing £18 and £46 respectively, both containing 5 additional tracks plus all the creative photography, lyrics and music videos that go with it, or they can be listened to and purchased via Bandcamp (see Music and Merch pages) at …            https://kolmusic3.bandcamp.com

YOUR HEART by KOL

New Single Release - Go Awhile

I received a marketing opportunity to publish this recently created single on all well-known streaming platforms for a reasonable price so I thought I would give it a go. This is my first digital release that didn’t require me to press actual CDs in order to get it out to the world. This looks like the way to go so I might do this again. Apart from being on this website it can be found on my Bandcamp and HearNow pages.

Go Awhile | Kol (bandcamp.com)

Kol - Go Awhile (hearnow.com)

New album release

Today is the official release of my second album “After the Show” which is now available as a CD or by streaming from Spotify, Apple Music and all other major platforms. The album itself and the links to streaming platforms can be found here:-

https://kol.hearnow.com/after-the-show

Some of the songs can also be found on the New Album and AV pages of this website.

The album cover is a street photograph I took in London this year on the banks of the River Thames just a few weeks before the first lockdown. If the couple recognise themselves then please feel free to contact me for a free copy of the CD and my thanks.

All but four of the tracks have been created since my last album release, largely thanks to lockdown restrictions, and somehow (even before release date) three of the tracks have been “Shazamed” over thirty times from different parts of the world which never ceases to amaze me - but thank you anyway if those listeners have also found their way to this website.

Well, I hope you all like the new album. I am fairly sure there is something for everyone on it so please take the time to check it out and pass the link on to friends if you like what you hear.

Forthcoming Album

Exciting news, my second album “After the Show” is due to be launched at the end of this month in both physical CD format and streaming on all major platforms in time for Christmas. In preparation I intend to update this website with some new material and I encourage you all to take another look in a few weeks’ time. Until then, adieu.

Major Update - new images and pages

“Breaking Out” Exhibition

I am glad to report that our exhibition earlier in the year was a great success, attracting lots of great comments and quite a few sales as well. Here are a few of the things our visitors said about it:-

... Amazing, completely unlike anything I've ever seen (young Art Student)

... Fabulous, integrated and exciting exhibition

... Amazing work, great variety of style. Too difficult to choose an overall favourite, I love so many.

... Inspirational and makes me want to experiment more with my photography.

... I've never seen Floor One (the Art Gallery) looking so vibrant. The presentation is sensational.

... An amazing collection that challenges your senses. My brain is lovely and confused.

We set out to make the exhibition more than just a gallery of photographs so we installed a stainless steel cityscape to front our street photography and built an old-fashioned sound booth complete with headphones to listen to my latest album. There was also a glass cabinet full of our photobooks, a continuous loop of photos running on a monitor, some matching furniture and furnishings, and background music throughout.  I think the Rugby public really enjoyed the experience.

Updates

So now, after a few months rest, I felt it was time to bring my website up-to-date with a complete new set of images, some updated content, and a new Street Photography page. I admit that I was putting this exercise off because I had forgotten how to manage my website but it turned out to be quite straight-forward in the end.

Other changes include the addition of an “Archive” page so that I can continue to show and sell the most popular images from previously shown galleries. I have also made sure there is a consistent referencing system for every image and a pricing structure now in place (see “About & Contact” page for more details). I have made some changes to the Music content also.

I hope you like all the new content and please remember that all items are available for purchase too (just use the Contact Page to start the ball rolling)..