The band is taking a summer break and this is also an opportunity for me to catch my breath and take a brief look back.

While the first season of ‘The Holy Loneliness Collective’ was made possible with the help of funding from the Covid-19 era, the second one was an attempt to put the project financially on its own feet. For me, it was never about making money. The idea was simply to generate a little extra income to buy me the time to keep the project going. And perhaps at some point to be able to pay an illustrator again.

At the moment, the situation is such that the membership fees are not nearly enough to achieve either of these goals. And there is no sign that things are heading in this direction either. I have therefore decided to cancel the premium subscription. THLC is now free again for everyone.

However, this also means that I will no longer be able to post regularly at a fixed interval. I have to prioritize commercial projects to a certain extent in order to make a living. Beyond that, whenever I have the time and energy to pursue projects purely for the love of art, I'll be tinkering with new THLC material. I already have a few songs in the drawer that want to get out. So sooner or later there will be something new here.

I'd like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who has subscribed to this newsletter, who reads along, writes comments and messages and thus helps to shape the story. But above all to those who have supported me financially over the last few months. I really appreciate that. Thank you very much!

With that, I'm off for a summer break for the time being. See you soon, I hope!

Christoph Klinger

it took a little longer than expected, but the second season of 'The Holy Loneliness Collective' will start on September 17th. After more than a year's break, I'm looking forward to returning to the characters and their story, as well as releasing new music.

Some things will be different this time - here is an overview of the most important changes:

1. As before, there will be one regular post per week telling the story of THLC. However, there will now also be longer pieces at irregular intervals that provide a deeper insight and are exclusive to Premium subscribers. If you want to join in quickly, you can do so here (and immediately listen to the exclusive song that was released during the break). Thank you so much for your support! I really appreciate it.

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2. Franziska Blinde, who contributed the wonderful illustrations for the first season, has now moved on to new projects. I really enjoyed working with her and wanna take this opportunity to thank Franziska for all the talent and love she put into the project.

For the second season, I will create the visual part of THLC using an AI solution (Midjourney). As already mentioned, this is purely for budget reasons. In the medium term, I would very much like to work with a human illustrator again. If you'd like to help make this possible, consider the Premium subscription once again.

3. In addition to Instagram, THLC now also has a Tiktok channel and followers would be greatly appreciated. If you want to get in the mood for season 2, by watching a few highlight clips from the story so far, you'll find what you're looking for here: https://www.tiktok.com/@holylonelinesscollective

What stays the same: There is no script for the story, no overarching plan - even I don't know in advance what will happen in a month or two. And every reader is still welcome to get involved and shape the story - via comments and polls here in the newsletter and on Instagram. I'm very excited to see where the journey takes us.

Best regards,

Christoph Klinger

PS: If you want to read season 1 again to get in the mood, you can find it in its entirety in the archive. (Just start reading at the bottom).

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Some lovely people have sent me messages that they would like to support THLC with a subscription if there were more payment options. That's why I've decided to offer a subscription on Patreon in addition to Substack. There you can also pay via Paypal. If you subscribe now, you will pay your monthly fee once and get access too the whole THLC archive. From January on I will pause the accounting. So you won´t be charged until the new season starts.

Click here to visit Patreon

And to encourage you to subscribe now, I have a little surprise for you: there is still one song left from the sessions for the first season that has not yet been released. In fact, it will probably never be officially available because it's a cover. Without a major publishing company, there is no chance of acquiring the rights. But all premium subscribers will soon be able to listen to the song anyway. All you have to do is click on the following link to get a free trial subscription:

Get 90 day free trial

The subscription will remain free until the second season starts. After that, it will be continued under the conditions you have chosen - but if you change your mind, you can also cancel earlier and won´t be charged at all.
IMPORTANT: The offer is only valid until December 11. So better get your trial subscription now. Then you'll be one of the people who can listen to the new song next week!

If you subscribe on Patreon, you will of course also be able to listen to the song.

Thank you very much for your support!

See you soon,
Christoph

the story around 'The Holy Loneliness Collective' is taking a break for the time being. When and if it will continue is still a bit unclear. The reasons for this I would like to explain to you in this post as transparent as possible.

THLC as a project is very close to my heart. It's important to me to have a maximum of creative freedom in music and storytelling and to be able to try out even the weirdest ideas without having commercial considerations in mind. For this I also accept that I earn little to no money with it. So far, to be honest, none at all. Because the few euros that come in through Spotify are not even close to covering my expenses. Yes, there are expenses. Even if I don't have the ambition to earn money with the project, I would at least like to pay all those who help me with its realization adequately. The biggest point here are the great illustrations by Franziska Blinde. But there´s also Kai Blankenberg, who did the mastering for all the songs, as well as guest musicians such as the string quartet that can be heard on fæːlɐ. So far, I've paid for all of this out of my own pocket. But I can't do that forever. So I can only continue to run THLC if there is a realistic prospect that I can at least cover my expenses with the income.

So I have been thinking about how to make some money without having to sacrifice creative freedom to the music industry's exploitation logic. Here on Substack there is the possibility to offer premium subscriptions. For a small monthly fee, you then get access to exclusive material while supporting your favorite authors in staying independent. This seems like a good option to me. All normal posts will still be free, but on top of that there will be exclusive content for premium subscribers. (Additional texts, unreleased music, insights into the production process, more opportunities to help shape the story. More on that in a bit.)

It works like this: If you're already subscribed to this newsletter, you'll see a button below this paragraph that says 'Pledge Your Support'. (Otherwise you have to subscribe to the newsletter first.) Click it and you will be asked to choose your monthly or yearly contribution and then to enter your credit card details. After that at first nothing will happen at all, because 'The Holy Loneliness Collective' is taking a break right now. (No money will be collected during the break.) But it helps me a lot, because I can estimate how many people would be willing to make a small contribution and if I can cover my monthly costs that way. As soon as enough supporters have joined and the story can go on, I will activate the mechanism and all pledgers will automatically become real premium supporters who make THLC possible with their contributions. If you want to be part of it, click here now:

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The minimum monthly contribution is 5 Euro/Dollars. That shouldn't hurt most people too much. But if about a hundred people come together who are willing to support the project in this way, I could use the money (after deducting fees and taxes) to cover the costs of running the project. I know, a hundred supporters is quite a lot - at least for a niche project like THLC. So I am all the more grateful to everyone who contributes!

For now, I'll leave for my summer vacation and get back to you with an update afterwards!

Best regards,

Christoph

Pic: Ingo Stahl

My name is Christoph Klinger and I am something like the creative mind behind 'The Holy Loneliness Collective'. All texts are written by me and I also compose and produce the music. The illustrations are done by Franziska Blinde.

'The Holy Loneliness Collective' is an interactive story that continues to be told in small episodes. 'Interactive' means that there is no predetermined plot line. Unlike a novel, each reader has the opportunity to influence how the story develops. This is done via comments or polls - here on Substack, but also on Facebook and Instagram. So anyone willing is more than welcome to be not only a silent reader, but become part of the story.

Another important ingredient is the music. 'The Holy Loneliness Collective' is available on Spotify, Apple Music, Tidal and everywhere where music is to be found. But also here on Substack you will be able to hear all the songs - and furthermore even sketches, rehearsal recordings and insights into the production.

If you're interested in the illustrations, you should definitely take a closer look at the work of Franziska Blinde. Here are a few samples.

I'm happy about everyone who reads along, listens in or even gets involved in the story!

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