Artist Tris Aver has been mates with The Cooper Temple Clause since school, and with them embarked on the mammoth project of creating the artwork for their latest album.

So how do you begin representing sound through vision?

An icy hot white/blue light with a blurred rabid red glow electrifies a thick black void - a seemingly purposeless black block is stamped on top.

This is the album cover of the Cooper Temple Clause's new album Kick Up The Fire, And Let The Flames Break Loose, released on 8th September 2003.

TCTC's latest album, released on 8th September 2003.

Inside the booklet there is more blurred red/white/pink light spiking and stabbing the blackness.

Opened up, the booklet reveals the light is a small part of a fuller image, though what it is isn't clear.

This sense of not perceiving a whole, not giving you the obvious, a 'sensory deprivation', is what The Cooper Temple Clause were looking to achieve, according to the album's artist Tris Aver, from Wokingham.

When the band were struggling with designs for the new album six months ago, they approached 23-year-old Tris for help.

He's been close friends with the band ever since they met at the Forest School in Winnersh.

They all have similar tastes in art and music and the band have always supported him when he was studying for his Fine Art degree at Birmingham, and attended many of his student exhibitions.

The Cooper Temple Clause wanted to be involved in their own album artwork.

"I had also previously designed a backdrop and limited edition t-shirt for the band during their first UK leg tour under BMG."

Creating album artwork is certainly more than meets the eye - first off…how do you see sound?

Try to imagine your favourite song - how easy is it to create an image that represents the 'feel' of the music, the band's collective persona, and something that puts the band in context within the vast music spectrum? Where do you start?

For Tris it involved him sitting in the corner of TCTC's Reading studio - Bleak House- taking notes while the band played. The band were keen to be involved in the artistic process too.

First a piece of Tris's artwork was handed round the band who each drew something on it and passed it on but that idea didn't gel, then Tris got some prints of his artwork and created layers of anarchic 'doodles' with Didz.

Members of the band tested out different fonts and writing styles for the lyrics, and wrote down their own comments next to Tris's visual ideas.

The band added their comments to the design ideas - see the photos on the left for more close-ups.

But a lot of these ideas conflicted label BMG's art department, who knew what would work commercially and what would be financially viable.

Original design of inlay sleeve which includes handwritten lyris and photos.

Final design of inlay sleeve.

This made way for the next idea.
"I was taking many new photos of artificial light sources from local clubs, streetscenes, gigs, and the TCTC studio, while also hearing the early recordings of the album." Tris said.

Tris's digital art aims to create a 'sensory overload'.

"I was aiming to produce works highly responsive to the environment and sensory overloaded conditions in a 2D image."

He continued: "After a TCTC gig at the Newbury Corn Exchange, I had produced a body of new digital work, combining physical and digital painting techniques.

The Kick Up... album cover is a close-up of a small section of this original image. The inside sleeves of the album's booklet features close-ups from other sections of this image. This image features heavily on the special edition album DVD as some funky animations.

"The band felt that these new images were more vibrant, emotional and moreover more personal/relevant towards the feel and the sound of the new album; they were made in direct response to the music and the atmosphere created by the music they played live.

"I aimed to make a visual representation of the whole gig in one image."

The final drafts are smaller sections of these images, which later evolved into the next single releases and the 'Kick Up…' album cover.

Tris's work is also featured within the sleeves and promotional advertising within the music press.

I for one was naively stunned that there was so much thought and inter-relation in TCTC's artwork.

"All the images on the singles are related, Promises Promises, Blind Pilots, it's all going to fit together, it's not like a puzzle but more like a blow up of different parts of the print."

Promises Promises single cover

But what about the black block on the front cover? "It's something that's there but incredibly irritating," said Tris, "it has no apparent purpose, like the monolith in 2001: A Space Odyssey".

All in all it's been an incredible experience for Tris: "I am really excited about this project, especially when I walk into music stores and see shelves full of my images, and also holding the finished CD and 12" vinyl in my hands! It has been an amazing opportunity to establish myself as an artist, and especially proud to add this to my portfolio."

He is currently working on many contemporary portraits commissions and hopes to work locally at the 'Open Hand, Open Space' artists' studios in Reading.

For more inforation check out Tris's new website: www.retinalies.co.uk