Faker: Be The Twilight
Sydney band Faker settled in to Los Angeles during the past northern hemisphere summer to record their second full-length album, Be The Twilight. It’s a collection of songs about the space between day and night and lead singer/songwriter Nathan Hudson’s own fixation with twilight and facing your fears.
“I’ve had a fear of twilight ever since I was a kid,’ Hudson says. ‘Anything could happen.” That sort of sentiment is reflected in an album of chaotic, very danceable, somewhat brooding pop.
The artwork by Sydney creatives Debaser draws upon the album’s theme as well as a cinematic and literary connection to LA: there’s a noir-ish, something-might-be-lurking-in-that-swamp feeling to the cover image, with the band’s name standing out in striking contrast and looking a bit like the Hollywood sign. This setting was created on a small, intricate scale at Debaser’s studio and photographed, with cigar-smoke cleverly providing the haze — and avoiding the cost of a smoke machine!
The album’s booklet stays on theme with photographs, illustrations, and tightly condensed blocks of text. The booklet literally takes you inside, with the outside exterior scene peeking in through the window. The photos show what Barton Fink’s room and affects might have looked like if he was in rock band, with old-timey props painted and given a bit more of a sinister treatment by Debaser principal David Homer.
Booklet photos:
Still from the film Barton Fink:
Faker themselves are featured in a centre four-panel illustration that gives them a classic comic book rendering — they look like they are ready to take on the night one gig at a time in a J. Scott Campbell comic.
On the disc itself, the macabre skeleton paintings are front and centre:
The back cover tracklisting and credits are laid-out like titles on a film poster and give a strong and familiar way of laying out the fine print as well as effectively presenting the album as a whole piece.
Debaser has created album art for the esteemed likes of Paul Kelly, The Cat Empire, and Ben Lee. Their artwork for Powderfinger’s Dream Days At The Hotel Existence won this year’s ARIA award for best cover art.
Check out the Sleevage post on Faker’s first album, Addicted Romantic.
Tom Froese:
Amazing. It’s all amazing EXCEPT the novelty typeface they used at the bottom on the cover. I find the combination a bit jarring.
# 12 Dec 07 at 12:07 am
Ash:
yeah it could have worked without it hey.
I do love that voodoo/cuban/new orleans art style too. Make a great tatt with the stylised skeletons
# 12 Dec 07 at 1:44 pm
HK:
It’s not bad, but it really doesn’t suit the music.
# 14 Dec 07 at 2:21 pm
emma:
that is unreal!
# 18 Dec 07 at 10:41 am
Ash:
I heard today at a design confrence that the font chosen for the cover was a “must have” stipulated by the band. Debaser’s original idea was to lay the type like a movie poster (which they did on the back)
# 04 Apr 08 at 9:16 pm
pock:
font chosen by artist – does that ever work?
# 21 Apr 08 at 7:04 pm
Ben:
Yeah gotta say… love everything about it apart from the RANK font used on the cover. Always emotional when a client insists on something like that if that was the case. Debaser seem to do some great work… I agree with HK that the imagery does not suit the music however… but still… a good cover regardless.
# 22 May 08 at 1:58 pm