When music turns visual

Through the years we have seen independent music’s popularity grow, but in Chennai we haven’t been able to make a place for it — until now. With all the different measures that go into making a successful album, the city’s vibrant art community has added to its indie music rise — with fantastic album art work that has redefined the release of a modern-day record! We talk to musicians and album artists about how art on the cover helps express the music before it’s heard, how they create it, inspirations, influences and more... and how Chennai’s music scene is tapping into new and experimental avenues.

“I believe album art is essential. But since CDs and vinyls are kinda redundant these days, the artwork has become digital with iTunes. There aren’t too many artists who create album covers. Even our artworks for the first and second album were created by friends. Now we’re planning to experiment ith EPs and having different artwork for each of the songs,” says Ameeth Thomas, lead singer of Junkyard Groove.

Sriram T.T. of Skrat speaks highly of the importance of art when producing an album, “If there’s an album, there has to be art! It’s almost as important as the name of the album. It gives you a hint at what the story of the music is and what we’re trying to convey. If music is your personality, the art on the cover is how you express it  in the way you dress.”

He goes on to say, “Our new album Bison, will be released around July-August. We’ve shared the story behind the name and even what we talk about when we create music, with our artist Arjun Rajkishore. We don’t want it to be like a client brief for him.” Arjun, who created a beautiful The Queen album cover for Skrat, tells us, “Album art is important because in the digital age, where music is spread by social media, you need something to grab the person’s attention. The scene in Chennai is still growing with exceptional cover art by the F16s, and Adam and the Fish-eyed Poets.” He goes on to say, “I do my work digitally; I’m not an artist, I’m just good at putting people’s thoughts on a digital medium.”

Gaurav Basu, a Bangalore-based designer who has created album art for Chennai bands before says, “Album art reflects the music — if it is dark, or ambient, or trance — the album art will reflect that. I have gone to a store and purchased albums only because the cover was intriguing.” “It’s important to have a visual identity, even if it’s very abstract. With our upcoming record, ‘TRIGGERPUNKTE’, we’ve created visuals that will linger in the listeners’ subconscious, while the music does the rest,” says Sashank Manohar, the bassist and digital artist for the F16s’ albums. He adds, “Digital art is easy to make and easy to digest. There was no Ctrl+Z back in the day, and if you made a mistake, you’d have to start from scratch. Today, you could pay way less attention to detail and explain yourself thoroughly. but this isn’t a bad thing! Everyone’s got an equal opportunity to make something epic.” And epic is exactly what these album covers are.