MB: Digipak Analysis

 

I have chosen to analyse the album artwork from The Family Rain's single "Feel Better (FRANK)", the band's fifth single prior to the release of their debut album "Under the Volcano". Despite the band having designed each of prior singles similarly, Feel Better takes a different approach visually, removing the "drop logo" that the band has come to affiliated with, and instead have used a small section of their debut album cover to make this, as everything on their album cover relates to one of the songs; this being some drugs, which are later seen in the official music video.

The artwork for the single cover has some connotations towards the genre it belongs to; namely the skulls and crucifix present in the background, perhaps connoting  heavier style of rock music than reality. The symbol created by the bottle of pills also relates to the counter-society culture that rock and roll has often been associated with since it's inception. Similar to the actual album cover, the single's colours are bright and vibrant, which takes connotation away from such a heavy genre of music and brings it into line with more mainstream alternative rock forms. The band have also chosen to impose their name, and the name of the single onto the cover, as they are not yet popular enough to establish themselves without any physical presence. This is apparent on the album cover, where all three brothers and present.



Previous single covers by "The Family Rain"

However, more than just connoting the genre of music which it belongs to, the single cover also has connotations towards the members of the band themselves. Everything present on the album cover has some relation to either a song, or something to do with their family. This furthers the metanarrative created by the band name, and promotes the meaning behind it. "Family is important". Perhaps not the most "rocky" sounding slogan of all time, but through the songs that have been based upon situations that arose through their childhood, it shows where it can get you.

The band however, did choose to remain absent on all of their single covers prior to the release of the album, perhaps as an artistic choice, so as to establish their logo, or, as Dyer would say, to establish their "star-image". As mentioned previously, rock music has traditionally been associated with rebellion against to norm, and the choice to remain absent from something that is effectively a promotion for yourself is a big decision, especially for a band that has not fully established themselves into mainstream culture, but through doing so have established their stance towards it.