Album Covers
Artwork for indie bands, since 2008
Album artwork, logos and other media for independent bands and musicians across genres, each one starting from the band and the theme of the album or song.
It began in school, drawing covers for the CDs I burned, and grew in college when friends asked me to design for their bands. Since 2008 I have made more than 50 covers. Here are a few of my all-time favourites.
Amogh Symphony – ‘IV’, 2018
Amogh Symphony is an avant-garde, multi-genre band with members across Mumbai, Lisbon, Moscow and Berlin. The art is inspired by the title track ‘Birds’, which portrays life, mother nature and freedom, metaphorically.
Riatsu – ‘Machine Men’, 2016
Riatsu is an electronic act. The artist felt ‘Machine Men’ is reflected in today’s monotony, so the art reflects modern slavery and control.
The song has a mashup of Chaplin’s Great Dictator speech. Apart from being a great track, it carries a meaning worth pondering, and I was happy with the way the art turned out.
Kayoben – ‘Asrar’, 2021
Kayoben is a duo of a harp player and vocalist and a producer. ‘Asrar’ means ‘secret’ in Urdu, and the butterfly formation comes from the band name, a portmanteau of chaos and life. To my sense, their music is an experience of witnessing a secret space filled with mysticism.
I also created the logotype, using my own typeface, Corsica.
Akhila & the Alchemist – ‘Let sleeping Gods Lie’, 2021
The single captures spaced-out, melancholic yet dreamy vibes, which I wanted to capture through the art. The artist’s fascination with cuttlefish was made sure to be captured too.
Ioish – ‘We move the Sky’, 2013
Ioish is a post-rock band in New Delhi. This album art had a different sort of journey: the band stumbled upon art I had created earlier, and they instantly resonated with it for their EP.
Tint – ‘Of Ethics & Instincts’, 2013
Tint is an indie rock band based in Kolkata.
Pradyumna Mulpur – ‘Sweccharagam’, 2018
‘Sweccharagam’ represents Utopia. I was happy to work on this single cover because it is in Telugu, the local language where I live.
These sketches show some of the ideation and exploration I do to align my thoughts with the artist. My process usually has three stages: pencil drafts where I finalise the direction, inking the final draft with micron fine-nib pens, and lastly a digital render.
Clam – ‘When’, 2018
Clam is a UK-based post-rock and ambient band.
Tristan Eckerson – ‘Sitges’, 2020
Tristan is a piano player based in Cincinnati. His music is very calming, just like the feel of the ocean, and his main inspiration for the song was a beach in Spain called ‘Sitges’.
Humrang – ‘Main kya hoon’, 2019
Humrang is a music duo inspired by the poetry and music of the soul and matters of the heart. The art reflects the title itself, where one often finds oneself wondering about one’s own existence.
Niteesh Kondiparthi – ‘Lekha’, 2019
Niteesh is a singer-songwriter based in Hyderabad, India. ‘Lekha’ means ‘letter’ in Telugu.
Parasighted – ‘Journey to the peak passes through the clouds’, 2022
It turns out I make electronic music too, under the moniker ‘Parasighted’. As the title of the track has a story to tell, so does the art.
Parasighted – ‘Galactic Voyage’, 2021
‘Galactic Voyage’ is my debut album. With my growing interest in outer space, the album sets off on a journey to explore the unknown realms of space. It is dedicated to all the souls who left the earth during the pandemic.
