By Diya Ahuja, 15 April, 2020
Album artworks reflect the genre and the whole idea behind the music of an artist. It is supposed to give you a hint of what the music is going to make you feel. It should be a sneak peak of emotions that you’re about to get into.
India has a lot of independent and underground music artists, away from the mainstream genre which one usually imagines to be. Here’s a list of 7 Indian indie music artists who have had a thought process behind their album artworks.
1) Prateek Kuhad: Singer-Songwriter, Prateek Kuhad, in his album of ‘In Tokens and Charms’, features a selection of special items. According to Prateek, the memorabilia, which includes a Polaroid camera, a letter, two photographs, a yo-yo and a divider, metaphorically represent each of the songs. ”
2) Lifafa: In his album of 2019: Jaago, Suryakant Sawhney’s idea behind the album cover was to imitate the bright, larger than life image of late Tamil actor and politician, M G Ramachandran. He said, “The whole burning vibe behind the cover image, the coat and tie, it is all in M G Ramachandran’s image. It was absurd and iconic at the same time. I knew that it is exactly what i wanted for ‘Jaago”.
3) Peter Cat Recording Co: “The album ‘Bismillah’ is the type that moves you. It calls you to remember, to dance, to dream, sometimes all within one song”. Thiz was the whole idea that had to be portrayed in the album cover of Bismillah. Therefore, the picture that you see, of an old man smiling with his eyes closed, where he has a drink in his hand is that of Suryakant Sawhney’s father in law. This picture was clicked on the day of Sawhney’s marriage.
4) Reels: The album art of Furniture Music – I is designed by Artist Zoya Mateen. Varoon Iyer, the producer behind Reels, wanted an EP cover art that “encapsulates being deeply engrossed in thought/sound, almost a feeling of loosing losing yourself in that moment with no care for the world around you.” The cover art is black and white, to subtle the music.
5) Motion/Emotion: This album came out in 2017 by Tangents, a Bangalore based band. Much like the album, its cover attempts to tackle many themes, from mental illnesses to emotional struggles, while the music varies between dense and minimal sounds. Sanjana and Sachin, the artists behind this design feel that, “Maybe, when you look at the front cover, you relate motion to the sea and emotion to the diver. The connection is subliminal, but you get it. “The overall design gives a very minimal visual treatment.
6) Drones by Colourblind: Colourblind is Kartik Mishra’s post-rock project. This album is drawn from nihilism, existentialism and even optimism. The album art for this represents every emotion of the artist perfectly. Sajid Wajid Shaikh is the artist behind this. Talking about cover art, Kartik said, “It reflects the tension between two individuals and their failure to communicate with or contact each other, because of the cages around their head and this cage could be anything”.
7) Side A/Side B: This album by Ankur Tiwari and The Ghalat Family was a sort of homage to the days of mixtapes. It was released in two parts: Side A in 2016 and Side B in 2017. The artwork includes the reduced portraits of Ankur Tiwari from two sides referring to the two sides of a mix tape. The artist behind this cover art is Sameer Kulavoor. Ankur Tiwari had been following his work for many years and it was his idea to meet Sameer.
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