Ceara Conway - CAOIN

LP and CD design for Irish contemporary vocalist and visual artist Ceara Conway; Her album CAOIN explores the sensibilities of the ''cry'' within a select collection of Irish sean nós laments lullabies, praise and love songs with newly composed contemporary arrangements . Produced by Seán Mac Erlaine and featuring acclaimed musicians Francesco Turrisi, Ultan O'Brien, Kevin Murphy of Slow Moving Clouds and Seán Mac Earlaine. See and hear more of Ceara’s work at cearaconway.ie

The Craig Safan Collection: Volume 1

A limited (500) run of Craig Safan scores en route from BSX Records starting with music from ‘Timestalkers’ and ‘Die Laughing’.

Clint Mansell - In The Earth

In The Earth was made by Ben Wheatley during lockdown and was one of the most talked about films of Sundance Film Festival. As the world searches for a cure to a devastating virus, a scientist and a park scout venture deep into the woods. As night falls, their journey becomes a terrifying voyage through the heart of darkness as the forest comes to life around them.

For the score, Mansell actually captured the sound of singing plants via PlantWave MIDI sprout machine, in keeping with the vegetal themes of the film.

"It's big, ominous, sometimes beautiful and often eerie -- think Blade Runner or Annihilation -- not to mention unsettling at times." Clint says, "Paranoia, isolation, anxiety, synths, plants...something for everyone!”

Designed using images from the film, ‘In The Earth is available on black or limited edition colour vinyl and CD now from Invada

Real World Records vinyl re-issues

The last couple of months I have been working on a number of LP re-issues for Real World Records, taking the original artwork - rescanning, adding some extra pics where I can and giving a little nip and tuck where necessary. Albums from Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan (Shahbaaz), U. Srinivas (Rama Sreerama) and Amjhad Ali Khan (Moksha) available from Real World soon, if not already.

Rokia Koné and Jacknife Lee - Bamanan

BAMANAN is a collaboration that connects the great ancient kingdoms of Mali and the bustling modern street life of its capital, Bamako to a remote recording studio nestled within California’s Topanga Canyon. That bridges deep tradition and forward-facing innovation.

One of Mali’s most beloved and dynamic artists, Rokia Koné is a force to be reckoned with. Her captivating performances in the city’s local maquis clubs very often last for hours, as Koné runs the gamut of emotion from joy to despair, fury to tenderness, wielding that astounding voice with grace and power. In 2016, she joined feminist supergroup Les Amazones d’Afrique and made her debut on an international stage alongside the likes of Oumou Sangaré, Angélique Kidjo and Kandia Kouyaté.

Jacknife Lee is the acclaimed producer of bands including U2, R.E.M and The Killers, and has a Grammy for his work on Taylor Swift’s multi-million selling Red. Stadium-sized soundscapes are his speciality. Yet BAMANAN finds Lee upholding the stark beauty of Rokia’s voice with subtlety and sensitivity. Every nuance and breath is heard, each inflection and melismatic improvisation carefully preserved on this exciting debut.

CD and 2xLP vinyl edition includes a 16-page photo & lyric book available from Real World Records now

The Soul Santas 'Christmas Crackers' Volume 1

In 2014 The Soul Santas first, and only gig at a Christmas School Fair was a roaring success, after which they decided it couldn’t be bettered so didn’t try. Until, that is, some rehearsal recordings were found on a phone. These recordings inspired Christmas Crackers Vol.1, recorded over 2 days in October 2020 at Invada Studios
The album was released last winter digitally and is now available on LP for the first time in lucky-dip green or red vinyl from Invada

BEAK> 'Oh No' 'Ah Yeh' 7

A design paying homage to the 80s magazine that wallpapered over the wallpaper of a million teenage bedrooms, ‘Smash Hits’ - or in this case SmaShits - comes this Beak> 7” single for your listening and hopefully viewing pleasure. Only other thing I wish I had done was to have a printed inner lyrics sheet including all the ‘do-do-da’s’ etc. Available now on black or yellow vinyl in limited numbers from Invada

Peter Gabriel Merch

Lately I have been putting together some new, but old, and new new T-shirts for Peter Gabriel. I trawled the archive and found various tour t-shirts from over the years, and then set about redrawing those designs with just a little added to keep those originals, well, original.

The first three are on show here, with three more in the pipeline, purchase these and look out for new designs at the PG store

Susana Baca - Palabras Urgentes

An icon of Afro-Peruvian music, Susana Baca is now in the 50th year of her musical career and celebrates the milestone with a forceful musical statement. Recorded as a form of protest and to spark debate, each of the ten songs on ‘Palabras Urgetes’ is an individual chapter of an all-encompassing narrative, taking the listener on a journey: a unique musical reflection on the traditions of Peru.

"Age casts a different light upon the world and this album seeks to express freely and honestly those things that I love most intensely. At the age of 76 it is time to stop thinking of always having to please others and deliver an album truly from the heart. These ten songs seem to be mostly premonitions of the difficult times we are now living through. They weave music from my deepest roots with urgent words, of hope and condemnation, to seek out a mature and cherished truth. With my own spirit and the hearts and talent of all those who have contributed, we offer this album as a renewal of our traditional music. I hope those listening to this album feel both a love for life and a love for living truthfully." Susana Baca

Released on LP/CD and digital format by Real World Records, with beautiful photography by Javier Falcon throughout.

Craig Safan - L.A. Ex

‘L.A. Ex’ is Craig Safan’s love-letter to the Los Angeles he grew up in. He explains "I call this album L.A. Ex, which obviously is a play on the airport, but also because a lot of what I wrote are things that now exist only in my memory," . Through a mix of digital samples and live musicians playing real instruments, Safan creates sonic expressions of sounds, feelings, and images of people, places, and things in Los Angeles and it's environs that have resonated in remembrance for a lifetime. I really enjoyed listening to Craigs tales of LA in this time, its an era that i’m very interested in, in a place I love to visit. On the cover is a photograph of the iconic Theme Building at Los Angeles International airport; Brightly and colourfully lit, I love that ‘populuxe’ architectural style and mid-century modern design oft associated with the West coast. The inside booklet contains further pictures from the period and notes from Craig on the infuential times he has spent there.

'Berlin' - Clint Mansell and Clint Walsh

Clint Mansell & Clint Walsh’s reimagining of Lou Reed’s 1973 album “Berlin”, a tribute to Mansell’s late partner Heather who passed away in 2014.

“Grief, loss, pain, are by no means unique to any individual, no one is spared. And while the experience is universal, it’s also the most lonely place. Heather died on October 16th, 2014.
In ‘Levels of Life’, author Julian Barnes lists the ‘lasts’ he shared with his Wife before here death. The last film Heather and I watched together was the Julian Schnabel film of Lou Reed performing ‘Berlin’ live at St Ann’s Warehouse, Brooklyn in 2006.
Reimagining this music, with musician and producer Clint Walsh - a friend who became a great friend through this experience - is part of what lifted me over a wall of grief that I had previously been unable to climb.
So this is dedicated to Heather, and Lou, with love.” Clint Mansell

Doing something simple is often so very difficult. Clint had given me a photograph taken by Heather shortly before she passed, and that picture said more about this recording than any design ever could. It was/is a beautifully simple yet complicated captured moment that creates a narrative all of its own, and a perfect accompaniment to the sounds beyond. Printed to-scale then applied gloss-spot varnish, very little else was necessary. I took a pencil and wrote the title and track names, added some small typographic elements, then finished it off with a hot-pink vinyl. A beautiful record, available now from Invada.

Skate BoA

Helping to raise money to build a local skatepark I recently designed a skateboard wheel (inset) and T-shirt for ‘Skate BoA’. The shirts are part of a bigger project including an exhibition of bespoke boards and prints from artists in the South West - will post more on this nearer the time. T-shirts (and bags) were made in a variety of colours and sold very well at a recent event. Limited colour editions will be available online soon.

Loney dear - A Lantern and A Bell

Worked recently with Swedish singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and very nice guy Emil Svanängen, who makes records under the name of Loney dear. ‘A Lantern and A Bell’ is Loney dear’s second album for Real World, following 2017’s self-titled release. Sea birds, distorted noise, and then the line “Mighty ships hung over ground” – the marine theme not only begins but makes its mark throughout the album and graces the artwork too, which uses international maritime code flags thoughout. Further details and links to purchase this beautiful album on CD/LP here > https://realworldrecords.com/features/blogs/a-code-of-signals-exploring-the-symbolism-of-loney-dears-album-art/

Little Thief - Under The Patio

Recently worked with ‘Little Thief’ on the design for their new album ‘Under The Patio’. Heavy woodblock printed type on top of David Keeping’s brilliant collages. Record being pressed as I type, so keep an eye/ear out in the near future.

LP sleeve opened up to see back cover through to front.

LP sleeve opened up to see back cover through to front.