Favourite Australian Album Covers 2013

It’s that time of the end of year where I return with my totally unbiased (honestly) review of the best of what was covering Australian music releases this year. My choices are purely based on the criteria of ‘I wish I had done that’, so judge it as you will. If the count seems down this year, well, blame it on a plethora of musicians forgetting the number of their local graphic designer – there was some really horrible cover artwork representing what was a pretty decent year as far as music released goes, maybe the kids just don’t care anymore and they’re being ironic. I don’t want to point the finger in any general direction, the state of the art is probably not looking all that healthy when what was probably the ‘break-out’ album of the year, Lorde’s ‘Pure Heroine’ was graced with a cover that looked like it mistakenly got through as a ‘For Placement Only’ cover note. Anyway, this year is redeemed once again by some spectacular covers. If I had to suggest any particular trends for the year, I would say black and white photography (and black and white artwork in general) Covers with no typography (perhaps a trend towards accommodating the small size of image associated with digital downloads), and lots and lots of painterly. paint stroke artwork

Jen Cloher: In Blood Memory
Artwork: Celeste Potter