Tender Trap Artwork

I've just finished this artwork for the band Tender Trap and their forthcoming album and single on the Fortuna Pop and Slumberland record labels.
In terms of formats and details it's the biggest job I've ever done. The band were super helpful all along the process, giving me clear concepts to work with. The album is called Dansette Dansette, in reference to the portable record player brand. The band explained that they wanted to get across a feeling of happy naivety - of girls dancing to music in their rooms on their own or with friends and the world that music and records in particular can allow someone to escape in.
I thought that was a great idea and I wanted to produce a sleeve (especially on LP) that people would want to look at when listening to the music on the record within it; where if it was the only information anyone had about the band, then it would be enough for them.
They were very keen on some of the drawings I'd done of outdated technical objects, like tape machines or audio equipment so it seemed obvious to use an actual Dansette on the cover. Luckily two of my friends have very nice examples in their houses so I took a series of photos to make the front cover images for the LP and the accompanying 7" from. I also based a lot of the other elements (like the fake sticker on the front and the choice of fonts throughout) on Dansette's own labelling and advertising from the time.
I liked the idea of people dancing around the Dansette so this formed the basis for both of the back covers, using silhouettes to keep the ages and eras of the dancers purposefully vague and timeless.
I'm a great believer in the band photo on a record sleeve for certain bands and I thought Tender Trap should definitely have one. They got their friend, the awesome photographer Alison Wonderland, to shoot them with a Dansette, in suitably bright colours and then I made a drawing from the photo for the inner sleeve.
Even with the CD we wanted to get across the idea of it being a record in the old sense of the word, so the CD face is designed to look like an LP and the CD tray image shows the turntable from the Dansette.
Anyway - it's out soon and it's probably my favourite sleeve that I've done so thanks to them for asking me and to Sean and Mike at the labels for their help. Follow the various links above to hear stuff from it and to eventually buy it. And needless to say, feel free to enquire about my freelance rates.
Click on the images to be magically transported over to Flickr where you can see them all blown up in detail...