Indie Rock, New Wave & Folk Rock album

CoversAnd how they may be influential on my digipak…

I shall be considering first 3 albums which use photographs for their covers, followed by 3 that use drawings or other forms of

art; all are of a similar genre to Elle Mary’s Happiness EP.

Avi Buffalo – At Best Cuckhold

Experimental indie band Avi Buffalo’s debut album ‘At Best Cuckhold’ uses well composed film photography of the artist to create an alternative take on the ‘star-image’:Rather than glorifying the performer and making them seem beyond normal public life, Avi Buffalo is portrayed in a seemingly average way. The use of film photography creates a more personal tone to the cover, and portraying Avi lying on the floor by his bed emphasizes his quirkiness (rather than any kind of abnormality), making him seem more approachable than other indie stars. Avi’s music is often anecdotal, telling stories from his youth and relying on experiences to create an interesting narrative. This is similar to Elle Mary’s music, as she often creates narratives describing personal encounters. A way of reflecting the personal element of Elle Mary’s music might be through film photography and careful composition, as used on Avi Buffalo’s ‘At Best Cuckhold”

Wolf Alice – My Love is Cool

The use of star image is particularly important and prominent in Wolf Alice’s releases, their debut album being no exception. Front-woman Ellie Rowsell is portrayed as the focal point both throughout Wolf Alice’s releases and during the band’s live performances. Goodwin’s theory of star image is particularly applicable with Wolf Alice’s newest release, ‘My Love is Cool’, as the cover shows Rowsell literally covered in sparkling gold and indeed resembling a star. The image is simple and understated, yet reflects Rowsell’s strong presence (both live and recorded ) within the band. One response the band often receive from critics and listeners alike is that their sound is heavily reminiscent of 90’s rock, a feature mostly manifesting itself as a by-product of the band’s youth growing up during the 90’s resurge of indie rock in the UK. Elle Mary has grown up in a similar era, meaning her music is often reminiscent of similar bands. It would be interesting to try and create the same sense of presence and star image around my actress Annie on the cover of my digipak.

Joy Division – Closer

The second studio album from UK post-punk, new wave and indie cult superstars Joy Division. The cover was designed by Martyn Atkins and Peter Saville; The stark photograph depicts an Appiani family tomb in Genoa, Italy. The cover caused concern for Saville after hearing of Ian Curtis’s suicide; he is quoted as saying “We’ve got a tomb on the cover of the album!”The cover is effective because of it’s use of bleak imagery and greyscale tone. The cover suits the gothic and melancholy sound that Joy Division were infamous for creating. The cover is subtle and understated, yet in itself makes a large statement about the band. Elle Mary and the Bad Men make similarly sombre indie rock music, but are less gothic than Joy Division. It may be effective to reflect this in my album cover; the use of a bold title is particularly strong, perhaps black and white photography is worth considering too.

Foals – Antidotes

Foals' debut album was recorded in summer 2007, and received much praise after its release. The band rose to fame via a blend of emotional rock ballads and short, fast paced indie songs, the combination of which the band began to form their own unique sound around. The cover art is a combination of scruffy hand-drawn mark making and collage, the two approaches epitomising Foals' sound: The band are messy at times, but use moments of noise and disorder to create overwhelming atmospheres, but these moments are sliced between shimmering riffs and the unique voice of Yannis Philippakis. The collage element of the artwork reflects the multitude of influences and inspirations which have helped to piece together Foals’ unique blend of indie rock, folk and psychadelia. Antidotes is a similar sound to Elle Mary’s ‘Happiness EP’ in some respects, for example, both artists use sensitive and reflective lyrics combined with noisy overdriven bass . It would be effective to use some kind of collage-like photo splicing in my final outcome, but I feel drawings would look out of place.

Neutral Milk Hotel – An Aeroplane Over the Sea

Neutral Milk Hotel’s ‘An Aeroplane Over the Sea’ is widely regarded as a classic indie rock album, although the band do dabble with more traditional folk riffs with lo-fi pop moments. Frontman Jeff Mangum created the artwork by editing a postcard; a friend of his named Bryan Poole said that

Postcard provides; it seems to add to the nautical feel of the cover and it also matches the band’s lo-fi approach to music. I feel it would be effective to use some kind of filter on my digipak to create a similarly washed out feel, as this would suit Elle Mary’s sound. Perhaps it is worth considering transforming some of the images we have taken in a similar way to Mangum.

"Mangum was always into that old-timey, magic, semi-circus, turn-of-the-century, penny arcade kind of imagery.” Perhaps it was Magnum’s strong sense of image and preference that helped to make the album cover so infamous. I feel the most effective element of the artwork is the grainy and washed out feel that the old