[Exclusive] Au Revoir Simone discuss inspired drawings and album artwork

01 May 2009, 09:00

Au Revoir Simone, who’s new album Still Night, Still Light is released on 19th May, is a sparse, yet hook filled pop gem. What you don’t get from just listening to it, is the fact that the album and single artwork was carefully selected by Erika, whilst Heather was inspired to create some individual drawings inspired by the recording sessions.

Erika from Au Revoir Simone talks about the album and single cover art featured on their forthcoming album and single.

Album Cover: Still Night, Still Light
Samuel Palmer: ‘Shepherds under a full moon’

We searched far and wide for inspiration for our album art. We really wanted something to “come to us” but it wasn’t… and we were running out of time. I found a postcard in the bottom of my desk drawer that my boyfriend had picked up at a show at the Met with this very beautiful and mysterious tree. It was a painting by Samuel Palmer and it caught my eye so i decided to research him. He was an English romantic landscape artist, and member of The Ancients, a group of 19th century artists whose work expressed a mystical vision of nature. He made so many beautiful moonscapes and said “very late twilight time with the rising dews is like a delicious dream.” It was perfect for “Still Night, Still Light” and we were very lucky to obtain permission from the Ashmolean Museum at Oxford to use the image.

1st Single Cover Art: ‘Shadows’
Graham Parks: ‘Another Evening Seed’

This painting is by my boyfriend Graham Parks. We used 2 of his paintings of snowy landscapes for our 7″ for our single “Fallen Snow” off of our last album and this one seemed just perfect for Shadows. There are so many subtleties of dark and light in this piece. The colors are very soft and severe at the same time.

Also, it’s very meaningful for us to collaborate with an artist who we are all close with and was intimately involved in the making of the album. Most of the instrument tracks were recorded in our apartment with him painting in the back room and bringing us coffee and snacks on every break.

Heather from the band drew the following images whilst recording the new album. Below she describes each drawing and what inspired her during their creation.

The one below is called: The Coup. There is something incredibly therapeutic about drawing in the style that I do (ie. obsessive compulsive stippling) while recording music. I’m sure there is some kind of neurological explanation about why it feels good to have your hands as busy as your ears (I wasn’t the only one, Annie knitted as though she were opening her own winter wear store) but I’m not sure why. The album has a lot of love songs on it, and this drawing is definitely a ‘love’ drawing. I was thinking about my boyfriend at the time, so perhaps we were recording “We Are Here.” I wish I could remember. But its about two skulls meeting intimately and dissolving into one another. Which is what happens when you’re in love. I gifted this drawing to Nico from Air because I thought he would like it, as he loves love just like the rest of us do.

The one below is called Pet. It is a creepy, menacing, dark drawing (for me). I think that we were recording parts for “Only You Can Make You Happy” at the time of its inception, which I suppose wouldn’t make much sense considering how uplifting that song is. I was really into the magenta and brown ink on orange paper color combo at the time. It’s kind of beautifully grotesque. I gifted this one to David Lynch, because he is the master of the beautifully grotesque.

The one below is called Swap Spit which was drawn while we were working on the song ‘Tell Me’. I think the correlation between song and drawing is strongest on this one because it looks to me like the visual manifestation of a swirling keyboard part. The idea of balance and fragility was really important to me when I was composing this drawing. Some things look off kilter a bit, but in the end, I think its harmonious. I gifted this one to Jean-Benoit from Air because he reminds me of these things, fragile but strong, and complicated and balanced all at the same time.