As fuzzy and pink as an episode of Columbo filmed inside a birthday cake, the front cover of The Raft’s new album looks like colonoscopy footage from an unfortunate jelly baby.
Pink is the perfect colour for The Raft as Phil Wilson has spent the best part of two decades making pick n mix style music using the ingredients of shoegaze, The The’s, The La’s and Barney Summer & Johnny Marr’s vaguely monikered side project Electronic. His music is all sugar and gelatine. Grab a scoop and fill your bag!
The miasma reflects his shoegaze leanings and the pink shows Phil’s softer side, he’s not quite the full Edwyn Collins but his songs are full of love and emotion and sensitivity. I caught up with Phil to talk about the album and the art, but first, let’s have a listen to the new album, and if you like it, treat yourself!
https://shorediverecords.bandcamp.com/album/summerheads-and-winter-beds
I asked Phil about the artwork;
“A guy I didn’t know put an ad up in one of the shoegaze groups on Facebook offering his artwork for free for album covers, I checked his page out, liked that particular image and the rest is history. At that point, I already had the album title, Summerheads And Winter Beds and it just seemed to fit. It felt summery but also a little dark and mysterious. I’m quite indecisive when it comes to album art so I usually go with my gut and this image definitely spoke to me. If you like it, you should check out his other stuff. His name is Andrew Latham and his design company is called Ghostheory Art & Photography.”
How does Summer Heads And Winter Beds compare to the previous album, Abloom?
“I’d say there’s more substance to this one and it’s a bit more grown up. I wanted to make a more expansive album that had more than just pop songs on. It’s still pop at its core but some of the tracks are a little bit more experimental and the arrangements more complicated. It sounds nothing like it, but I had Giant Steps by The Boo Radleys in mind a lot of the time while recording this one.”
Read more What’s In A Cover? articles…!
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