/// Welcome to the PAST LIVES Experience ///
Think of this page as digital liner notes or a guided tour of my most recent album … PAST LIVES !
Here, you will find exclusive, behind-the-scenes content such as videos, downloads, stories, sheet music and much more !!!
Over time, as finishing touches are put on the album, more content will be shared here … so please check back every once in a while …
I am so happy that you have joined me on this sonic adventure … enjoy :)
/// Side 1 - Aurora ///
I’m at a stage in life where it feels like I’ve already lived several lives.
Some of them are easy to name. Others blur together. What remains are impressions … places, sounds, versions of myself that no longer exist in the same way, but still feel present. Past Lives came from spending time with those memories while also looking ahead, curious about what might come next.
The first real seeds of this record appeared while I was living out of my car on my first national tour. I was moving constantly, crossing landscapes, sleeping in unfamiliar places, showing up each night as a slightly different version of myself. There was a kind of freedom in that … space to observe, to listen, to exist without having to settle on a single identity.
This album lives somewhere in that in-between space: reflective, somber at times, and unexpectedly joyous. It isn’t about trying to preserve the past. It’s about acknowledging it, carrying it forward, and allowing room for what hasn’t happened yet.
/// Side 2 - Zenith ///
I wrote all of the music on this record myself.
I also mixed and mastered it, created the album art, and designed the physical release. I sought the opinions of my engineer, Noah Avary, and my band … voices I trust deeply … but the final decisions were mine. More than any previous release, Past Lives is a self-made record.
That process brought clarity and doubt in equal measure. There were moments of complete certainty, and others where I questioned everything … especially while shaping the strings and piano. I learned to sit with that uncertainty rather than fight it.
Somewhere along the way, I began to feel less like someone assembling a record and more like an author … responsible not just for the notes, but for the world they inhabit. That responsibility encouraged me to take risks, to follow instincts, and to try things I might have avoided before.
/// Side 3 - Twilight ///
I wasn’t trying to make a jazz record.
I wasn’t trying to make a record of standards.
And I wasn’t trying to make a vocal album.
Still, there are voices here.
Marisol’s voice appears on only a handful of tracks, but when it does, it feels necessary. I don’t fully know why. I only know that, in those moments, the music seemed to ask for words … even if their meaning remains unresolved. I’m comfortable with that ambiguity.
The same is true throughout this record. I’m not interested in telling anyone what this music is “about.” Once an answer is given, the search tends to stop. I’d rather leave space for listeners to discover their own connections, their own histories, their own past lives within the sound.
/// Side 4 - Veil ///
PAST LIVES was made to be experienced as a whole.
It’s a double LP, spread across four sides. The sequencing is extremely intentional. Each piece earns its place. I imagine it being listened to on vinyl, without skipping, without distraction … a full immersion.
Late in the process, I added “Night Owl” I had played it live in Madison, Wisconsin, and felt an immediate resonance … not just from the audience, but within myself. In that moment, I knew it belonged here. It felt like an arrival rather than a conclusion.
Now that the record exists, it no longer belongs to me in the same way. However it resonates with you — inexplicable or otherwise — is enough. Meaning doesn’t need to be revealed to be felt.
Thank you for listening …
Nicholas Krolak (KRL)
/// Want to pre-order a PHYSICAL copy of PAST LIVES ? ///
/// album artwork : first look ///
it has taken me MONTHS to finish the design, layout, and artwork for PAST LIVES … here is what it is going to look like … minus all the extra guidelines all over the place :)
… more coming soon !