Solid States - The Posies

Brief: We are making our 8th album, which for us represents major changes in our lives from the recovery of the loss of our drummer, Darius Minwalla, who passed away last year, to major musical reinventions of our sound and style. The album Solid States encapsulates an irony. In fact, we acknowledge that nothing is solid; everything is fluid, exploding, falling apart, recombining and that is the true nature of life. As much as we try and hold on to things, they change. And getting comfortable with this concept is the source of a lot of anxiety for most people (including us). Our ideas for the cover concept are that it's very scientific (solid being one of the states of matter). We envision a little bit of the above mentioned anxiety coming thru in an abstract drawing. Something frenetic and frantic, but also mathematical. We imagine the lettering for the band/ title would be several layers, like an exploded drawing. Yes: Pencil, pen & ink, precise, scientific, hand made but controlled. Computerized art is OK too, but there needs to be a human aspect to it. Not *too* cold. No: Photographs. We're looking to avoid anything "retro" as well. - Ken and Jon Response:

This design is inspired by my own personal feelings of anxiety. The feeling of walking around in your own solid state of emotion whilst the perpetual buzz of modern day society remains consistent. Feeling isolated, suffocating in the thick fog of the empty conversations from passing pedestrians. The consistency of human contact feels reassuring with the solidity yet frantic to the observer as they overlap and walk in different directions. I have attempted to portray fluidity through my line drawings and the way they connect with each other. However, my drawing suggests the difficulty of finding a way out towards happiness and acceptance. My drawing shows how there is hope for those with anxiety, yet illustrates the difficulties.

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