Simon’s Album Covers Blog Post

To enforce our knowledge into the capacity of analysing an album cover and the artist/group by only a picture, in class we took several album cover of this artist and see how much we understood of him.

The first album cover we saw was a Day In July and the name of the artist or band Marlowe.

The composition of this album cove is made by a vintage coloured picture illustrating three children by the mountain, this framed by a red background.

At first look to it I would say that we are talking about a band, as there are three children in the picture that could represent the members in the band. Also by the image the idea of organic is shown, with the idea of natural by the mountains and simple characters that don’t need much to have fun and make music.

The song seems to talk about an old memory of those three children maybe in that exact place. The genre of the song I would say country or souls maybe with a symbolic lyrics and a good beat.

The red colour used as background, has the connotation of love, and this case seeing three children maybe the thought of family if given, adding a warm feeling to it.

The second album cover changes completely the name of the band or artist is written in red with same font as the earlier album cover, but the structure change s a little having again a picture with only a single child in it, and this is the protagonist as does as the whole album cover with no frame.

The image represents this child hiding under his duvet, with a light illuminating his face and drawing the main attention the child’s face expression (terror and fear).

The idea of organic is maintain, but this time the idea of a single artist is encouraged as the child could be the singer, always getting inspired by his own experiences and telling us as an audience something personal about him self.

The genre of music I would carry on with the same as the previous one but adding something more house or electric for a heavier beat as the feeling of fear and terror should be transmit to show continuity with the front cover.

In this case the red used for the texts shows a connection to the previous work but also the idea of danger, as red is a colour used I road signs as well to draw attention to drivers.

The album cover for Textcard Lines the colour red that was earlier used to show continuity here is not presented and a play grey colour id used as background for the album cover and instead a having a photograph we have a drawing, like a motive done with geometrical figures (reminding of a display in a recording studio). This gives a modern look the whole, changing the idea of the genre of music, something more electro or house with more defined beat and style. Looking at this the idea of a group comes back as this album cover is more similar to other we have seen done by a group or artist working together.

The idea of organic is presented with the presence of the drawing as it reminds me of home making. This is obviously just a personal opinion.

All the covers seen until now where simple and straight forward, but first the name of the band/artist was always presented this time here doesn’t appear giving us the idea of either a change of name, or maybe the cover of a specific single in an album.

Another cover we analysed was You turn me on of the same artist. This digipack cover is done by a drawing image of a girl with a red background.

The name of the artist is clear, and having a single picture of an individual emphasises the idea of a single artist, however this is just an option as we assume the song would talk about a girl, maybe the one presented in the picture.

At the moment I would say that is referring to a single artist, as a group/ band wouldn’t use that icon as an album cover. The connotation and presence of red comes back, with the idea of love, probably for the meaning of the lyrics and carries on the idea of continuity with some of the previous digipack covers.

If at first red was partly considered a detail of the cover now it has a significant presence, giving us the idea that it’s an essential part or the artist and something we can recognise him with. There is no doubt the artist is a female or a band composed of more male artists as the previous pictures presented all male children, the latest digipack had a strong design something more masculine and for this one the song is dedicate to a girls all sign that we are looking in a male artist.

The genre of music goes back to the first two album covers I’ve analysed something closer to soul and country.

Now we passing to another digipack cover this time same, group Marlowe we are talking about the single Deep Breathe Fake Air, and interesting title as well as the album cover.

It is represented by a drawing picture of the human breathing system. The image is alternative giving a modern look to it, as it’s a drawing and of a human living the idea of organic is clear. The anatomy of the human body is something difficult to reflect a lyric onto to the first thoughts were about lies, smoke but something personal to the artist.

The background here is red, the predominant colour in the whole cover. It is now that red is something really significant for this artist, but the contrast of colours add something more appealing, I personally really like the utilise colours and the design of the album cover.

However I found really difficult to find the identity of the artist at first impact I would say is a band, but then referring back to the previous one the idea of a single individual is represented again in some sort of ways.

I definitely think the genre here has changed as the general look seems more modern, I would say house as my first impact, or pop.

The final digipack has a completely different style from the entire one we have seen.

A drawing pictured done with black ink take the whole cover, with a grey background, also the name of the song or possible new group has changed into Roja (meaning red in Spanish), the colour red is still an important factor and symbol for this artist as shown.

The picture presents a Spanish woman typically dressed for their culture riding a horse, this give a clear idea of the genre of music, Spanish or near countries.

I would say that we are talking about a single artist as we have a single character, but as the name is so general and there is no specific name of a person the idea of a band is still emphasised.

The change of name and genre of music makes me think that earlier we were analysing a band’s work with a component probably the main singer that took a different direction and decided to form a different one Roja. The change of genre seems to be motivated to a higher income and possibility of fame.

Now that I’ve analysed all those digipacks, the real identity of the artists is Simon the main singer of his own band, a musical group that was quite famous.

The school is organising a Skype talk with him for us students to understand stand a bit more of the musical industry and how it is to work in it. So I’ve prepared few question that I could possibly ask him:

-How did you adapt your self with the change of music industry?

-What were you aiming at with your music (fame, transmitting a message, fans, etc.)

-Did you find it difficult to design all the digipacks and try to be updated with all the technologies?

-When was the worst period for you and your music and why?

-What made you change into Roja?

-Whys is red so important in your design? Does it mean anything in particular?