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THE FOREST: ALBUM COVERS
The Forest is an atmospheric dark wave band created by my friends in high school. Five years later, the girl group still performs occasionally at DJ sets and at small local stages. After seeing my fine art, they asked me to create an album cover for their first album, Ocean Erotica, which inspired me to continue with their concept and create further albums reflecting their sound spanning from 2019 to present. With their permission and input, I created 3 more album covers that reflected their dark, atmospheric, and slightly feminine sound.
ALBUM 1
ALBUM 2
ALBUM 3
ALBUM 4
ALBUM 1: SILENCE, 2019
The Forest's initial sound was inspired by goth bands like The Cure, where themes of death, romance, and macabre beauty met with their own experience and sound. Based on my own memory of their music from back in high school, I immediately felt a painting I had already created reflected some of the themes of life and death in their music.
FONT Garamond
I wanted a serif font to present the older aesthetic of their music, and Garamond perfectly bridged the gap between traditional and clean. While many goth bands are typically associated with extremely thick, sharp, over-the-top fonts, I wanted the attention to stay on the main feature of the cover: the painting. Furthermore, while Silence is inspired by dark sounds and themes, The Forest's music is still quite mild and atmospheric, rather than loud and heavy, so Garamond felt more akin to their lighter sound.
DETAILS
The painting is oil with thread-work connecting the butterflies to the spine. To mimic the doubled up threads throughout the rest of the cover, I inserted the orange border around the edge with the same color and thickness of the threads.
The overall composition flowing and slightly claustrophobic, with some room to breathe and rest the eyes, reflecting the style and musicality within the songs themselves.
The frame and font were also chosen as a call-back to vintage books/album covers, as serif fonts and details like frames were common elements during the 70s and 80s, when dark wave and goth music were in their prime.
ALBUM 2: CREATION, 2021
​The second album title highlights the vast amount of music and inspiration that flowed out of the band during the pandemic. Because almost all other activity ceased, this was the period in which The Forest created the most music, inspiring the dense, busy pattern for their second hypothetical album cover.
FONT EFCO Brookshire
During Covid era, the members of The Forest spent more time in nature, so much of their music was inspired by the experiences and beauty they found in the thick forests of Michigan. I chose Brookshire because it looks mystical, with its winding letters and charming flourishes, highlighting the feelings of whimsy and wonder the album explores.
DETAILS
To create this dark lacy texture, I experimented with adobe illustrator's pattern creation capabilities, which generated the top-most black/white image. I then traced over the pattern in photoshop to add a more sketchy, rough texture that better reflected The Forest's unpolished sound at the time.
I filled the gaps between the lace with a deep forest green, calling back to their time spent in nature. The color almost leans blue (seen in the front and back cover to the right), similar to how evergreens seem blue from a distance.
ALBUM 3: NOTES FROM THE ROAD
Their third album cover reflects the stage of change we all felt after covid receded, and we all entered our busy college lives. As the members of The Forest advanced through college, the pressures of trying to reach academic and career goals could definitely be heard in their longing sound, especially as the time they could dedicate to making music dwindled.
FONT Amsterdam Four
I wanted a serif font to present the older aesthetic of their music, and Garamond perfectly bridged the gap between traditional and clean. While many goth bands are typically associated with extremely thick, sharp, over-the-top fonts, I wanted the attention to stay on the main feature of the cover: the painting. Furthermore, while Silence is inspired by dark sounds and themes, The Forest's music is still quite mild and atmospheric, rather than loud and heavy, so Garamond felt more akin to their lighter sound.
The original painting was done to reflect my own feelings about the job market and the constant pressure to succeed an unreachable goal. Thus, I felt it was perfect to incorporate into The Forest's 3rd hypothetical album cover, as it perfectly encapsulated the member's apprehensions as well.
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