Of Monsters and Men- 'My Head is an Animal'
The front cover of the album has an abundance of a bluish grey tone, with a man walking on a beach whilst the central image takes the normality of the scene away and brings in a surreal, artistic element in the form of the small wooden house being flooded by the tide. It raises some questions: is the house owned by the man on the beach? If so, is he escaping the tide, despite him not being in the running posture? Is the central framing of the house intended, so that it's the first thing we see upon viewing the cover? Are these surrealist tones supposed to mirror the album content? The only other different tone is the pink of the artist name, which forms an acronym. This cover design could also be simply derived from a song lyric in their work.
The inner cover of the album is much more multicoloured (For each of the three sides of artwork in the album, there's two portraits). We notice the black and white/possibly sepia torsos below the multicoloured drawings. It is obviously a take on the album title 'My Head is an Animal,' which was a line from their song 'Dirty Paws;' connotations of animals. The division between the monotonous torsos and the rainbow-scheme of the animal drawings could imply the alternative genre of the band as their songs range from indie pop and rock like 'Mountain Sound' or 'Six Weeks' to slow-runners like 'Slow & Steady' or 'Your Bones.' The animal drawings seem beast-like because of the tusks and horns accompanying most, which could refer to possible Icelandic folklore concerning mythical beasts, so as to introduce their culture. Also, the colours used in these drawings are very organised into the appropriate areas of the animal faces, which could maybe remain in a surreal fashion without mixing colours like most mainstream pop albums do. It could simply be interpreted that the animal drawings, the colours used in these drawings, and the division between monotone and 'multi-'tone could just be the personalities of each band member, as there are six of them.
The back cover is the same location as the front cover, but without the man, the house and the slight roughness of the sea. Could the front cover, because it is the front, signify the introduction of the album and how it will be like, then the inside album artwork of the animal heads mirrors the artistic, alternative nature of each song (as we're listening to it), and then the back cover signifying the end of the album, with the surreal-ness (house in the sea) of the album gone and now it's all calmed down, as pictured with the sea.
Arctic Monkeys- 'Favourite Worst Nightmare'
Again, with this album cover, we're given an image of something normal, which is (possibly) Sheffield's terraced council houses. There is the abundance of a dark greyish tone, yet it's put out of focus because of the bright 70's style groove of the wallpaper designs in the three lit rooms, where it attracts you first before you turn your attention to the mustard-yellow title of the album, which gives the band title as well as the oxymoronic subtitle 'Favourite Worst Nightmare.' These terraced houses could be the band's original housing either before or during their fame, as it seems to have at least some significance with the lit rooms which could be where the music (or the band living/performing) is coming from.
In comparison to the front cover where the lit rooms are shot from a diagonal long-ish shot, the flipside (inner) of the case shows the rooms dead on, multicoloured and very attractive designs. It seems, like the first album, to suggest that you're listening to the music as implied by the colours and the dynamic designs, as though to further suggest the album content. The central disc artwork has only three colours: black, white and green, which could be just a convention of the designs of indie album artwork; simple yet effective.
Only dual colours black and yellow used here, probably to indicate the end of the album, with no terraced council house, light or position of the title. Just a list of the songs for information and company labels etc.
Gabrielle Aplin- 'English Rain'
Again, there's an abundance of the grey tone to give the album title it's meaning; bad weather or (English) rain. The title is in a handwritten font, maybe to emphasise that Aplin wrote her own songs, as most indie artists do. Her presence in center frame wearing a creamy yellow dress and running in the rain with a rainbow umbrella as though she's trying to gain momentum and fly, attracts the most attention. She's the good in the midst of the bad (weather). The emphasis on one coloured image alone attracts us and raises our curiosity on the content of the album.
The flipside (despite it not being divided into three separate images) is very artistic. There's the same image of Gabrielle Aplin with the umbrella (on the left) yet this time she is pointing the umbrella towards us, presenting a wheel of colours to attract. The other side consists of Aplin attempting to fly with multicoloured balloons in an otherwise monotone background, which mirrors my suggestion of her trying to fly with the umbrella on the front cover. Also, the idea of her being in a wide open field, as the front cover also is, it could be allegorical, maybe symbolizing the openness that allows her space to fly, or just basically giving a view of the English countryside to visually correspond with the title 'English Rain.' The booklet is just the umbrella itself in center frame, more close up and topped with Gabrielle's name along with a kiss as though to thank us, the audience (or spectators) for listening to her music. The colour is the same as the front cover to maintain its indie look without overusing colours in a different image.
The trackless on the back page is in a handwritten font to possibly further the suggestion that Gabrielle wrote her own tracks. The position of the tracklist replaces Gabrielle with the umbrella, resulting in a dull 'English Weather/Rain' background, as though to, like the other albums, signify the end of the album.
Mika- 'The Boy Who Knew Too Much'
This album cover is very different to other indie albums. The colour scheme is very vast and the imagery is very imaginative. The colours could indicate the colourfulness of the album content and it's variety. The title 'Mika' is presented in a white stencil font with a blue 3D pop-out which resembles the childlike nature of the album cover, with connotations of fun and imagination. The image of the boy on the floor reading the book is very interesting, as the surrounding environment of colour, space, planets and stars derive from the book he is reading, his imagination. He's 'The Boy Who Knew Too Much,' which is a reference to Hitchcocks's 'The Man Who Knew Too Much.' Alfred Hitchcock directed independent films like the iconic 'Psycho.' This independent factor is a possible reason why Mika's album is indie: an indie artist referencing an indie film/director; the wild yet controlled colours of his imagination; introducing us to the colourful album, using a childlike design like he did with 'Life in Cartoon Motion' to attract us straight away, and also having that surreal element of the Birdseye angle that establishes the imagination, as though suggesting that when we listen to his music, we imagine the songs visually, like the boy imagines the book visually. The colour does, however, seem to break the convention of indie albums being mostly dim toned and fixed on just a few light colours, instead creating a multicoloured and imaginative design.
The flipside mirrors some of the songs. The blue background emphasises the white symbols, such as the female symbol, which could relate to the song 'Blame it on the Girls,' or the article that mentions the song 'Dr John,' or the sewn up rag doll that relates to the song 'Toy Boy.' These images are not disjuncture or amplification, but illustration of the lyrics in the songs on the album. The idea that the images illustrating the lyrics being on the flipside, where the disc is, could imply the songs playing as the images are seen in this section. The colour scheme again is very imaginative and instantly attractive, yet not too childish as some images, in particular the devil using a sewing pin on the rag doll, seemingly reference dark fairytales because of the rag doll; a child's toy, is being attacked by the child demon. Yet the bright colours take the seriousness out of it and remain attractive to the eye.
The back cover is very imaginative in comparison to the other albums. The tracklist is golden in colour, surrounded by an artsy depiction of the universe that continues to attract. It resembles Mika's style of music and videos; indie pop, electronic, partly ballad (Relax, Take it Easy) and alternative. The back cover still remains imaginative and appealing, yet without 'The Boy Who Knew Too Much' in the frame, it's the end (possibly).
Wolf Gang- 'Suego Faults'
Wolf Gang's 'Suego Faults' has a very interesting front cover. The overall tone is a very light blue/turqouise colour, which is very conventional of indie albums because there's not an abundance of colour, where only turqouise, black and maroon/brown are the main colours. The surrealism of this cover emanates from the central framing of the person wearing an Indian War Bonnet in the middle of the woods. It could emphasise the alternative and indie nature of the album, mostly consisting of indie alternative and indie ballads and rock. The image of the fallen tree seems possibly symbolic, but I can't exactly put a finger on it. The positioning of the title and the subtitle in the top-left corner is possibly intended to be small because the artwork attracts us first because of its interesting imagery, before we take a look at the title. In comparison to mainstream albums, such as Katy Perry's 'Teenage Dream' album, which doesn't reveal any title at all because we already know who she is, indie albums rely on a variety of low key and interesting imagery to capture the eye of anybody who would consider listening to new, unknown artists.
The back of 'Suego Faults' is very reminiscent of Paloma Faith's 'Do You Want the Truth or Something Beautiful' album. Faith's album consists of her in center frame, donning a very classy hairstyle and holding what look like doves.
The back of the 'Suego a faults' album is dark in tone, with the only real flare of colour being a woman's fiery hair. The tracklist is very formal and in a low-key golden colour. The imagery is, like most indie albums, simple but effective.
So from the look of these five (six if you count Paloma Faith's) indie albums, to successfully produce our own five-sided Album artwork, we would need to consider: tone,mostly dim, yet with certain colours that attract ('English Rain,' the rainy background with the colourful Gabrielle Aplin in the center); simple (and occasionally surreal) imagery, such as the man from 'Suego Faults' in a War Bonnet in the middle of the woods, which is overall effective; central framing to attract (as well as attractive colours in a single image); the title being positioned marginally or in corners to allow for full view of the image; possibly an image of the band. These are factors that I will mostly consider for the creation of our album artwork.
Thanks for reading :-)
