Snowmine

Dialects

By the Snowmine

     I had just recently discovered this band and feel in love with their Dialects album cover. It has a surrealist feel to it. The cover shows a man standing on a cliff with surrounding mountains around him for the environment; I sort of think that it's an environment in a Central America country. The man is facing in the direction of the floating woman, but isn't looking directly at her. Does this mean that he sees more floating people in the horizon that we cannot see, or that the woman is a spirit of the environment. Who knows? But for the two figures, they are mostly centered with some distance between the two. 

     The image is obviously in black and white with some scratch marks and other marks across the image. This suggest that the photo was taken at a early time period then in todays generation. Also, by looking at how the figures are dressed also suggest a different time period. The man is wearing a button down shirt, baggy pants, and possible boots. So this outfit suggest that he traveled. He could have traveled alone or drifted off from the group he was traveling with, because you get this moment of isolation with him. The woman either appears to be naked or some sort of tribal clothing on. As previously stated, she could be a spirit from this environment. 

     Even though it is a black and white composition, the viewers eye is automatically drawn to the figures. They are the center of the image and are a little bit darker then their surroundings, so they are the emphasis. The composition is also based on the rule of thirds. I'm glad that the band and album name are lined up with the edge of the bottom right. If it was larger it would have defiantly ruined the image. The font is an off white sans serif, possibly Futura or Helvetica Light, with a simple line separating the band name from the album title. 

     Overall, I think this a great design. If the viewer pays close enough attention to the detail, like the clothing of the figures and the marks, he or she can make up their own story. The cover also ties into the bands music as well which is ambient rock.