*BUMP*
Travis's artwork just blows me away. I've been staring at the pictures now for a while, especially after having listened to the album many times and having read most of the lyrics online. I really think they deserve some analysis beyond simple platitudes. Do the pictures relate to the lyrics? Is there a one-for-one thing where each of the pictures ties in to certain songs? Are the pictures related to one another? Do people from one picture appear in another? If the pictures are indeed related, are they chronologically presented in the booklet? If not, why?
So, I'll take a bit of a stab at it, basing it on my SE artwork. Get out your artwork and follow along!
Cover (1): ?
Pages 2-3: Blank Face at the Window Pane.... There's a spectral emanation in the upper right corner of the mirror. There's ivy on either side of the window. Any patterns there?
Pages 4-5: My Arms your hearse. Someone's in the front window of that hearse.... tell-tale creepy sworls seem to suggest that it's another spectre... Is that window from the previous page from that building? The ones in the front have the criss-cross pattern on them, and the previous page's window didn't. Maybe it's one of the windows on the lower level on the right? Directly behing the hearse? Also, a bit of a Wish You Were Here sort of feel to that handshake... And is either of those guys in the previous picture?
Pages 6-7:Who is that? One of the guys from the previous pages? You know, I assumed he was looking at that marker (grave marker, I guess?) until just now. He's looking off to the right. Why? There's kind of a vertical streakiness....and I think I can see the shape of maybe a child in it. Just over his left shoulder. I had assumed it was tree bark initially, but now I'm not so sure. Floating letters are from the code at the back of the booklet. Who's got the cypher and can translate this?
Pages 8-9: To me, this is TLE. I think it's the room from the cover. I think it's in that house, too. The crisscrossing on the windows... There's something floating over the boy's head. Almost looks like a fetus right side up, but if you flip it over, it's clearly a face. The hollows of the eyes jump right out at you. Are these people from previous pics? Is this the past?
Pages 9-10: Who's that? Is that a sign? What does it say (obviously we can't read it)? What's that penis-like thing hanging down from it? There's another emanation on the bottom right. Like a naked body laying face down. Can't unsee it now, and it's creepy as fuck. A ghost? The hint of a buried body? And I think there are some floating eyes on the left page, if you follow up to the left of the forked tree.
Pages 11-12: Holy fuck. One of the creepier pictures. Ummmm....why naked at the dinner table, alone? Alive or dead? An hourglass in the middle of the right page? Smiling face in the china cabinet over his left shoulder. If you look closely, the way the sworls work along with the creeping shadows from the right, I feel like a profile emerges. That the emanation sort of blurs the picture. The left shoulder is the sworly bit by the plate in the foreground. The neck is in the area by the rightmost wineglass (defined by the, what? chair? The black next to the candle holder). Chin is defined by the right of the china cabinet, nose is that point of light. To me, the cheeks are what make it pop--the creeping shadow defines the cheekbone. Of a woman, I think. It's like we're looking through her.
Pages 13-14: Clearly he's reading the tracklist going, "The Louts Eater? What the fuck is that?" Again, that window. From the cover. The letter is maybe what the guy on the cover is writing? A suicide note, maybe? The note and picture from the back cover? Over his right shoulder, in the middle pane of glass, note the blackened area. A tree trunk sort of just ends. To either side of the black areas are faces.
Back Cover: Only dude not wearing a tie in the whole booklet. There's another face on the right side of his body (our left). Look in the sworls. The face looks to our left. A woman, I think. And what about that note? A couple of mentions of months in the lyrics (September in HA and "That April Day" in PH...are there others? I forget.). May....Walpurgis Night, maybe????
CD sleeve back: Duh. It's Mike Fraxpertin. Some sworls, but I don't see anything major.
DVD cover: Let's toast this ghost! And the letter is on the Ottoman. Different chair than the one at the desk on the CD cover, but same chair from pages 8-9. That fucking glass is GLOWING. Look how it lights up his hand. Pretty certain this is the dude from pages 8-9, too. LOTS of sworls, but, alas, I see no dead people.
DVD back cover:? Do I see Orchids?
Okay. Maybe I'm grasping at straws. What do you all think? I fucking love this artwork, and it only helps deepen my appreciation of the music. Just like album art should. Best I've seen in years.
It stole the necktie from the dude in the out of focus pic.
