Mark Cole - Cole (2018)

COLE is the eponymous debut release from Mark Cole and features original songs across the variety of musical styles that he performs in.

The eleven track album not only highlights his flair as a songwriter (one track, ‘Let me Down’, achieving a runner-up place in the globally recognized International Songwriting Competition) but also as a multi-instrumentalist, as Mark plays nearly all of the instruments on the recordings.

The songs range in mood and subject from the full-on power of 'Desiccate Me Baby', 'Bon Ton Boy' and 'Out On A Saturday Night' to the soulful 'Solitary', the quirky 'Let Me Down' and 'Misprint Formica', the melancholy 'Had Our Day', the North Mississippi influenced groove of 'Honeyslide', the cautionary 'Love Will Make You Blind', the human tragedy of 'Water Will Rise' and the reflective, Mexican influenced 'Banus Rain'.

Inspired by traditional music styles of the Deep South it's sometimes visceral and hypnotic, sometimes contemplative and always emotional. It's music grown in the dark, damp soil that hides deep under the roots of the tree of life, created to get under the skin and into the heart and mind of the listener.