Carin Creel
November 9 2010
Design Basics
The first CD album chosen for this project is by the progressive metal rock band, Dream Theater (Roadrunner Records, 2009). The CD covers artwork was created by surrealist artist, Hugh Syme, an imaginative genius, whom accurately portrays the albums’ title, “Black Clouds and Silver Linings,” in his artwork with metaphoric images cleverly exhibiting the artist thoughtful and ingenious imagination.
At first glance, the composition is perceived as a great open universe conveying feelings of tranquil serenity. The aesthetics of the dark clouds with their long curvy lines in the distance and hovering over the wide open space convey a sense of calm and beauty as their swirling silver linings which shine through a vast night sky are almost encompassed by the gloomy and depressing, negative atmosphere. A large section of a gray cratered moon suspended in the corner dominates the upper left half of the frame making its presence well known and three neighboring moons spread above the horizon in the deep distance, looming above a purple and gray muted sky as companions of its loneliness, satisfying its solitude. Once all of this is taken in, the eye is drawn to the horizon and the composited shapes and items that don’t seem to belong become apparent. The placement of the bright sunshine, almost centered in the frame as though coming from within the atmosphere is a misnomer of its actual position, this is most definitely the focal point. At first glance the light seems to belong to a sun shining brightly within the universe, but once better studied it becomes apparent that it doesn’t belong to this universe, much like the rest of the mismatched images below the dark plane of the horizon. The composited items, almost fading into the background are perfectly integrated and meticulously arranged throughout the introspective piece of artwork. Placed as subliminal undertones of the artist’s imagination and balancing out the composition of the parched and deserted plane of the foreground beneath the dominating universe are items such as an artist easel, which sets beneath the giant looming moon at the left of the frame. The easel, an artist’s instrument of creation, symbolic of a silver lining because of its ability to bring what is imagined to reality through works of art which control and manipulate the senses. And perfectly demonstrating that anything is possible by means of the imagination is an amusingly peculiar but simple painting on canvas exhibiting one large glaring eyeball wearing a funny looking, greenish-yellow hat. Flying at left and top of the easel is a bird in half flight tucking in its wings and reaching out its claws for the tip of the easel on which to perch, perhaps exhausted from a terribly long and desolate journey through the universe. Opposite the easel a tiny white mouse seeming lost and confused by its strange surroundings sets helplessly before a large and majestic elephant. The hefty elephant, gray in color, appearing as though it should be in the middle of a circus performance as it stands atop a platform of what looks to be four square stepping stones with its four legs tucked closely together beneath him. All of these strange images seem to be symbols conveying the artist’s childhood, reminiscent of the joys and wonders of the fascinating universe before the imagination is taken over by the all too real and overbearing responsibilities of adulthood. And bringing it all together, off center in the horizon, is the open doorway through which a clear blue sky, white puffy clouds and a magnificent sun shine through.
The dominating sun that at first glance appears to be part of the vast universe is actually shining through the top of the opened doorway. A small child being four years old at the most is dressed in a blue shirt with long white sleeves, blue jean pants and sneakers, and stands gazing out the doorway, with his hands interlocked behind his back. Perhaps the child is merely taking in the beauty of the clear blue sky which shines through the opening of the doorway; however there seems to be a deeper meaning to the doorway, being that is placed as the focal point, perhaps the doorway to the child’s universe on the opposite side. I believe it is more likely that the imagery is meant to convey a sense of despair in the child, or more accurately, the child within the adult, that is locked helplessly away within this bleak, vast universe. The universe being the place that the adult cannot return to, the joyful days of his youth that he had to leave behind, or perhaps a part of his youth that he can never get back. The doorway, possibly symbolizing the entrance to his soul in which the adults mind sometimes travels, but outside, on the other side of doorway is the place where the mind of the adult is most often, locked away in reality, and away from the dreams of his inner child, while the spirit of his inner child, along with his youth and imagination, patiently wait for the adult to allow his youthful spirit to come out and play, and the two are brought together again.
Of all of the tracks on this CD, I love the peaceful and relaxing harmonic tones of the song, “Wither”. The lyrics begin telling the story about the loss of a loved one and how the loss causes him so much pain and heartache that he decides to allow his soul to, find the words and let the feelings flow, fill the empty space, help the memories to escape, turn the water into wine and start over, “like reflections on a page, the worlds what you create”. It is a very heartfelt song, the lyrics are uplifting, although the music itself sounds quite disparaging, the arrangement left me with a sense of gratitude for what I do have, a feeling that everything will be alright and a message that says, “Don’t give up”.
The second CD album I chose for this project is by the rock band, Cynic (Roadrunner Records, 2008). The CD covers artwork may seem similar to the previously chosen artwork, and this is perhaps because it was created by the same artist, Hugh Syme. The composition of this piece portrays the albums’ title, “Suburban Crisis”, another ingenious piece of surrealist artwork which uses metaphors and undertones to convey a message, although again in this piece, the undertones, although somewhat an exaggeration of reality, are not a very far stretch of the imagination. In the composition it is daytime as four children are swinging on tall, gray wooden swing sets standing smack-dab in the center of what appears to be a garbage dump, these four children swinging are the focal point of the composition. A sign is stuck in the ground on a red wooden stick below them, the only word distinguishable is, “WARNING,” set in large red bold print. The many colors of the garbage are scattered about the sandy dirt ground, their jagged lines of color generating a feel of chaos and confusion, agitating the composition. Puffy white clouds billow in the purple muted sky above the children evoking a false sense of security, because what appear to be clouds aren’t made from rain clouds, but are polluted and harmful
The meaning of this piece of work is a little harder to decipher than the previous piece. Possibly, it is pointing out the cynicism of a world being destroyed by garbage and pollution; a suburban crisis that will someday be the setting of our children’s, children’s playground. Or perhaps the undertones of the composition relate to the music and vocals on the CD itself, having a harmonious, yet chaotic mixture of experimental rock having soft, soothing vocals; death rock, having harsh and abrasive vocals; death metal instruments having heavy guitar strums and drum beats; and jazz fusion, a combination of funky jazz beats and instrumentals using electric guitars and other electronic instruments.
The composition of the album cover is much like the composition of the music; perhaps the cynicism is of hiding behind a world that is trying to carry on with a harmonious and content life while the world around them is in such chaos and despair. I listened to many samples of their music and found it very fast paced at some points, slow and beautiful at other points, however, in most of the songs the vocals are metal death; too much metal death in my opinion. However, once the music slows down and the lead singers actually uses his vocals and comes out singing, he does have a beautiful voice, such as in Dark December, there is a small taste of this, but not enough. The composition of the music itself evokes high spirited, energized, yet tightly wound emotions in which feel a need to be set free, but don’t know where to go. I actually had a hard time listening to the song Eight Below, the composition of the music was intensely confusing and made me feel like I wanted to pull my hair out.
Of the two bands, I enjoyed the first band more than the second. Before this project I hadn’t listened to either of the groups, but I’m sure that I will continue to listen to Dream Theater, and I am thankful that I was able to find them through this project as their music leaves me with a feeling that I have a friend in the universe that is going through the same painful feelings of loss that are kept hidden from the rest of the world that can be expressed and let out through the music.
References
Roadrunner Records. (2009 June 23). Dream Theater; Black Clouds and Silver Linings. Retrieved from website: http://www.roadrunnerrecords.com/newreleases/release.aspx?releaseID=350
Roadrunner Records. (2008 June 20). Cynic; Suburban Crisis. Retrieved from website: http://www.roadrunnerrecords.com/blabbermouth.net/news.aspx?mode=Article&newsitemID=99461
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