Explosions In The Sky: Album Design

Passion Project: What connects music to ideas? Why do people buy limited edition albums? This band has never used lyrics. The only rhetorical connection listeners have had to the band’s music have been their song titles. Using the song titles and music composition I developed visual representations for each song on the album mix, however abstract. The entire album folds into a one square foot box. The owner would become forced to engage the albums design by physically unfolding, slowly needing to reveal each piece. The Album utilized many mediums: painting, illustration, photography and collage. This allowed every single piece to stand out with its own style, while the diversity enhanced the overall visual impact of the album. This album could be repurposed after opening, the box could be cut up and all the art could be placed anywhere the owner desires for decoration. The hope is for people to become creative with how they display their album and not wasting a single piece of packaging to just sit in a closet. Description of "Let Me Back In" art work. Let Me Back In a 10 minute symphony with a strong drum rhythm. A noun “Me” a request “Let” and a desired outcome, “Back in”. This phrase could be a request, a demand, a directed wish, and/or a hope. Clear from a jarring screech used in the song their is an honest anger and frustration with the “request”. The band toyed with the concept of “hope" and the idea of moving forward by going back to a place someone has already been. Using these concepts the visual focus and theme chosen was time. Using stills of old home footage from 1950s Europe (source online). The collage embodies family and memories. Colors and hazy textures give off a nostalgic undertone. The imagery mixes violent and warming colors along with the juxtaposed content of these images. Contrasting these two representations of memories together, they juxtapose a desire for those warming memories and the daunting fears of the past. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tf5G6vxxY7A