Three Sergeant’s Syndrome are/were a Beijing-based collective of exceptional musicians brought together by Drew Hanratty, who wrote all the musical arrangements, sang and performed with the band on the album A Little Hiccough from the Dear Lord.
I was commissioned for artwork, photography and promo stuff. This is where we got to with the album art and packaging. Custom illustration, typography and production management. We went through quite a few variations, but all on a theme, which was arrived at through an intensive period of immersing in the sound, time spent with the band in the studio, and over numerous meet-ups to get a sense of how to best represent what their music was about. There was a grand narrative throughout the album. Richly-layered, and genre-spanning influences from abstract expressionism, to early/mid twentieth century pulp media, B-movie fever dreams, playful literary references, with contemporary off-kilter alt-jazz vibes, intricate arrangements at times very particular, and at others verging on the riotous…..
…Anyhoo, we settled on imagery and aesthetics that try to capture some of the atmosphere, influences and concepts. Folks were happy.