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Shadows are Fading

HUNTER

This album concept was developed when the world was overcoming the recent death of David Bowie, so it was fitting for Hunter to wear a shirt bearing

resemblance to one worn by Bowie in his Space Oddity music video. The textures, block colours and idolisation is directly inspired by Andy Warhol Pop Artist and the screen print medium, taking references from the traditional into digital graphic design. He was a close friend of Bowie's and gay icon.

 

Although all the above is important, it cannot be stressed enough that the album concept is primarily based on my best friend, Hunter. No matter how many changes Hunter goes through, I will continue to love and be inspired by their strong spirit and sense of justice. It has been a pleasure to see their identity

become more and more representative of who they are. Since meeting Hunter they have come out as genderfluid and have gone on to pursue music, their true calling. An example to us all. 

 

Themes contained in this concept included overcoming:

  • loss

  • fear

  • LGBT+ oppression 

  • outer struggles

  • inner struggles

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The rainbow is a reference to the LGBT+ community and all the colours with symbolic meaning (I have taken inspiration from the original flag, plus the PoC inclusive one). The colours act as a positive, bold combatant to negative forces. For years my nickname for Hunter has been "the rainbow", after this song which was so fitting at the time. The individual represents the journey and is a figure of hope and the album itself seeks to empower.

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This is one of my early projects, yet I am still immensely proud of how I turned this project into a live brief, what I achieved and my ambitions to release this and work in collaboration with a musician and friend. 

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The final photo shoot was a great team effort and I would like to acknowledge Dayna Bennett, Jade Phillips and Harry Needham for coming to my aid. 

Shadows are Fading

ALTERNATE SLEEVES

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Visually, the album has been through striking transformations before arriving at the finished product. At the same time I researched Pop Art, I was also researching Abstract Expressionism, America's first art movement. Generating action paintings using rainbow colours produced abstract and much less literal outcomes.

 

The rain I interpret as a metaphor for the "Storm" track. The storm is a powerful force of nature, and it is rain that brings growth. Like Jackson Pollock did, I listened to music like Bring the Rain by Tom Chaplin, Tear Up This Town by Keane and Going Down by the Stone Roses.

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This version was using Indian inks, which created this beautiful Diesel effect which I absolutely adore that I left unchanged when scanned in. It is almost ethereal. This outcome reminds me of otherworldly Cocteau Twins album cover art by Paul West and Andy Rumball. 

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This my least favourite front sleeve. It was based on an early idea I had, playing on the fact my friend is a Sagittarius and their name is Hunter, I illustrated a silhouette shooting rainbows. This shows the idea in an undeveloped state before I became more focused on what I was wanting to achieve. Looking at this again I can see there is far too much negative space at the top and it is too jumbled at the bottom, all these elements fighting to catch your attention. 

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However, the back sleeve is actually one of my favourites, though I don't think it manages to compliments the front. It has a galaxy feel to it. 

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