Matthias Barter is a brilliant singer/songwriter and one of my best friends. His music is witty and authentic and if you haven't realized it yet, he loves puns. He gave me a title and a couple of creative directions for his album art, and I ran head first into those puns.
His first EP, released in November 2018, aptly named The First One was created first on Procreate. A number 1 made out of the repeating phrase, The First One, contrasted by a gold texture.
I continued the chalkboard texture throughout the 4 panel booklet, separating each line of the songs with a gold texture double forward slash. A nice subtle break so that you can digest each innovative line of lyrics and the multiple meanings Barter conveys.
Barter's second EP, Every Second Counts, that will be released later in Q3 2019 stretched his love of puns even further. Take the time (no pun intended) to count (I swear I'm not doing this on purpose) the number of levels he wanted to convey the number 2. My first approach was to remove all the numbers except for the second hour, and the minute and hour hands and leave just the second hand, but Barter and I agreed that we wanted a more subtle approach.
Instead of continuing the blue wall texture throughout the 4 panel booklet, I opted for a white background for the ease of reading the lyrics. Again, Barter's innovative lyrics are the focal point and as the listener enjoys his mellow sounds, my hope is that they become entrenched in the wit and poetry of his words.
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