A palette full of covers'

You might think that the rise of digital music is threatening one of the greatest art pieces of all time – cover art, but apparently not so. A number of artists in the city dwell in it, adding a visual twist to the sounds you hear with some of the most innovative and striking covers you’ve ever seen. We get a whiff of the biz.

“Music and art have a history of enhancing each other. And the whole cover art scene comes from the LP era where progressive and psychedelic tracks came with fantasy-based covers. Even now, a number of artistes who opt for them are influenced by this era in some way,” notes Scribble Bandit, Rahul Chacko. This city-based freelance artist has a number of feathers to his artistic cap – designing posters for Kryptos’ European tour, creating a celebratory art cover for Rolling Stone India, covers for bands such as Albatross, Dying Embrace and gig posters and t-shirts for his own band, Bevarsea for whom he handles guitar duties as well.

Although music may be going digital, the visual element stays put, thanks to the screens you stare at. “More and more bands and artistes are taking to this because it provides for an immersive, comprehensive experience. It adds value to the band’s brand,” says Gaurav Basu. The city-based graphic artist who goes by the name Acid Toad draws influences from alternative and underground subcultures, giving rise to work that’s often been described as dark and psychedelic.

While they work closely with the bands, taking months at a time to attain perfection, in the end, the face of the song is up to them. “The creative process is part interaction with the fellow humans and part interaction with the universe,” clarifies Murali Krishna, a self-taught illustrator whose latest fiery works are acrylic portraits for Bengaluru-based artiste Lubomir Jabbanda’s new single. And Gaurav agrees. “You have to give the band a listen to get a sonic sense of who they are and where they come from – imagine I draw skulls for soft acoustic!” quips the alumnus of Chitra Kala Parishath who has illustrated for bands like Demonic Resurrection, Indus Creed, Silver, Soul Inclination, Family Cheese and his own band, Inner Sanctum for which he doubles as the vocalist.

Most of these artistes have day jobs and take on cover art as projects. “I would love to say that it’s for the love of music and people who make music, but, honestly it’s also for some money and visibility,” says Murali. If you’re in this for the moolah – “It’s a passion project and doesn’t pay much. You can’t even expect it seeing that this is a luxury component for most artistes who are dabbling with production, equipment, artiste and studio costs as well,” adds Rahul.