The Choice Music Awards is an annual celebration of the best Irish albums. We delve a little deeper to discover the story behind the album artwork chosen by some of the contenders and its relationship to the music in question.
A recipient of the 2006 Choice Award for Victory for the Comic Muse, The Divine Comedy are back in contention with their 11th studio album. Frontman Neil Hannon sheds some light on how the cover came about with designer Matthew Cooper.
“I found the image in a calendar I bought years ago in a museum shop in the states. It was apparently created as a poster/advert for the film version of an early 20th century Italian ballet called Excelsior. We looked into how to credit it but drew a blank. When Matthew Cooper the designer and I tried to integrate band and album names with it, it said no. So it just is what it is – gorgeous!
Sometimes you find yourself desperately trying to find an image for the cover at the end of the process. In this case, I’d spent most of the writing period staring at this picture. So it actually suggested the feel of the record rather than the other way around. To use it on the cover was a no-brainer.
I had quite a few prospective album titles when it came to deciding on the artwork. Though from the moment I wrote what eventually be the title track, I knew it was the main contender. I was concerned that there were a few too many “Something-land” titles around already, but these concerns were over-ruled by the choice of artwork. There literally was no other title that could be attached to that picture. And I’m a big fan of letting these questions decide themselves!”
