So, what?

Posted on Fri 03 Jul 09

Because we love albums, and lament their demise as the entire world turns to consuming music by the track, we’re going to do a few things differently and see how people respond.

We’re going to start by giving to get. We’re going to give away a collection of Colin’s songs in the shape of a free, downloadable album called ‘The Given’. It’s comprised of eight songs that didn’t make it onto the next Black album. They’re not rejects, or what used to be labelled ‘b’ sides, they’re a part of the process of getting to a final, coherent piece of work. They just didn’t fit that’s all. Some of these songs might even be better suited to other artists – you decide who.

What do we get? We get music to you, we create the possibility of finding more people who discover (or, quite often, re-discover) a love for Colin’s music, and we get a lot of satisfaction from hearing how much you appreciate it. We are also giving you the opportunity to give back. It’s up to you if you want to, and how much you want to, but we think that most of you are like us and are more than happy to pay for the music you love.

We’re also making the artwork available for download. Perhaps you’ll want to print it out and make your own album – good luck, it was designed to fit a 12 inch sleeve. Why? Because we lament the passing of the 12 inch album when the artwork was so much better that these piss-poor excuses for an artefact called compact discs.

The truth is, we used to love our vinyl collections – the physicality of them. They had texture and smell. They were something you could hold and absorb while listening to the music without having to fiddle about with plastic trays and magnifying glasses. They got better as they got older instead of looking like shit after a few months. They were something to cherish, not fling across the room or rest your coffee mug on. We don’t like CDs. We have to make them, but we don’t like them. We want to go back to having something we love. So we’re going to.

And if you think this is good – and it is – wait for the next one. It’s a stunning piece of work that truly fits together as a solid artefact. It’s called Water on Stone and it’s the blackest of Black. It will be out in September early November, it will include something extra that makes you want to own it and we can tell you now that it will not be available as a free download.