Song of the Centaur
The first single released during the “Bits and Bobs” phase, The Song of the Centaur featured my most minimalist and yet most colourful artwork yet. My design philosophy for my music was always based on my love for record collecting. The majority of singles and albums in my collection all had the artist and song name on the cover. Given that these details are now readily attached on streaming services, including these details front and centre is not the same priority for designers as it used to be. This would be the first time I would not include any typography at all.
During the design process for these releases, I was heavily inspired by the graphic design of musician John Foxx, and the strip of sky seen in the top left was lifted directly from the album artwork for “In Mysterious Ways”. I just increased the saturation to lean into the overall vibrancy of the piece.
Inspired also by Foxx’s use of classical paintings in his designs, I decided to utilise one of the artworks of my favourite painter of all time, Maxfield Parrish. His painting “Jason and his Teacher”, depicting Chiron, the centaur teacher of many Greek heroes. Parrish’s use of bold colours, specifically of blue and orange, perfectly matched my aesthetic direction for these releases, not to mention is depicts the songs subject matter.