If you think there might be something vaguely familiar about the cover image of the forthcoming The Cat Empire album ‘Steal The Light’, which broke today, you’d be pretty right.
It’s been illustrated by none other than Graeme Base, whose kids books ‘Animalia’, ‘The Eleventh Hour’ and ‘The Waterhole’ are international bestsellers.
“When I was studying Graphic Design as a kid I was just as passionate about music as art and always hoped I’d either be a full time musician or get a job designing record covers,” Graeme said when explaining the cover. “But then I started doing children’s books – one called ‘Animalia’ went gangbusters – and life just rolled off in another direction. But last year the call finally came. I sat down in the studio with the guys from The Cat Empire and listened to some tracks. We spoke about jungles and ancient civilizations and Impossibly Impractical Instruments … and I tried to keep the grin off my face.
“The piece shows a band of cats emerging from a lush Mayan jungle heavily decked out in elaborate Aztec/Inca/Mayan-inspired outfits. Initially we take them for warriors – they look pretty fearsome – but closer inspection shows them to be carrying fantastical, weirdly-shaped musical instruments: they’re off to a gig!”
‘Steal The Light’, to be released via Inertia on Friday May 17, is available for pre-order now.
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Anonymous says
The only thing familiar about it for me when I first saw it was ‘Dangerous’ by MJ
:)