This brief was to create an album cover, using a totally off-screen approach. My choice of album was one of my favourite albums of all time - 'The Colour of Spring', by Talk Talk.
The music on the album explores themes such as religion, and painful experiences of love. According to Neil Crossley in the blog, ‘Long Live Vinyl’, “the album is ethereal and enigmatic, with a haunting fragile melancholy. Powerful, spacious rhythms combined with rich instrumental textures [are all topped] by Hollis’s pained and deeply moving vocals”.
I chose to use a stained-glass effect to reflect the theme of religion, prevalent through tracks on the album such as ‘Happiness is Easy. The album also features the sound of an organ throughout, almost like the sound of a church organ, which links in with this concept. The use of glass also compliments the idea of the fragility of the melancholy prevalent in the album, and the transparency and honesty in Hollis’s lyrics.
(NB: Concept work for a student project).
I created a stained-glass window effect using two 12” sheets of glass. The image - painted onto the glass using glass paints - is of two people, plus woodland animals, to complement the theme of the video of one of the singles from the album, ‘Life’s What You Make It’.
The ‘lead’ effect was created using black fabric paint, and a thin black acrylic pen was used to outline onto the glass, once it had been painted.The idea for the front and back covers was also inspired by a lyric in the song, ‘Living in Another World’ - “Did I see tenderness where you saw hell?” I wanted one character to be on the front, enjoying the spoils of Springtime, and feeling the tenderness of the season, with the character on the reverse being far removed from this, almost being in hell - almost as if they were living in another world.
