Music for Escapism Only

I had to talk about this LP at some point. It's another one that I've had for a few months, but it's a 2014 release, and has grabbed me just like every previous release from this band. Definitely a 2014 top 10, probably top 5, we'll see what the next few months bring. 

Reverie Lagoon: Music for Escapism Only by Seahaven. I do apologise in advance, it seems my photography skills are worse than normal here. But I lack the motivation to take them again, and phone photos are never going to look great. It's just a sad moment when you realise photographing inanimate objects is a task too hard. 

I absolutely fell in love with the artwork here straight away. The 7'' that came out as a precursor to the LP had similar artwork and that looked great too. The art suits the tone of the music really well here, which probably sounds like I'm a dude trying to talk about something I really don't know anything about. But it does, I don't get it, the guitar tones just sound like this front cover. Or something. 

Back Cover. You get to see why this is a double LP with 14 songs to get through. To be fair, a few of these are almost interval tracks, but still clock in a couple of minutes a piece. In the bottom left there is the Run For Cover Records logo (well, one of them) and on the right is a barcode (not getting into it) and weirdly enough a Costa Rica flag. Not a clue what that is about, but Costa Rica is referenced on the previous LP in both the artwork and lyrical content. I'm sure that phrase Pura Vida works it way into this LP in the liner notes or something too. 

Inside gate-fold. Again, the art really makes a great setting for the LP. I like that the photos are kind of blurry/ out of contrast and quite dark. It just works together with the music pretty well, and encourages me to really delve into the physical product here. Furthermore, the sleeve and inner sleeves are made from that thick, textured card. Another example of this kind of sleeve is The Devil and God are raging Inside Me by Brand New (well, the first press) if you don't know what i'm trying to describe. Weirdly enough that has printed inners too. Which brings me on to: 

Printed inner sleeve for sides A and B. Photo of frontman Kyle Soto (I guess) on one side, and lyrics on the other. Nothing really to talk about here, but I do like that they have used printed inners in order to fit lyrics and extra photos in. I guess it would have been easier to use standard dust covers and print the lyrics on the inside gate-fold. But Run For Cover seem to doing a great thing with their releases/ artwork and packaging so I'm more than happy to keep buying. 

Printed inner for sides C/D. The photo of the live shot above does it absolutely no justice, it's a great image. Kind of removed from the rest of the artwork (both inner photos are really) but this one kind of merges colours with the rest so it flows. Then more lyrics, and surprisingly small thank-you list. Most of the bottom right is information on mixing/mastering/recording credits. I think the thank you's read something like 'Thank you for your support. You know who you are. Pura Vida'. 

Lastly, a photo of the sticker that came attached to the shrink wrap when the LP arrived. If I can't find a suitable place for a shrink sticker (generally plain dust covers are a good place to re-stick them), or the sticker looks like it may tear; I try to cut around it as best as I can and slip it in the jacket somewhere. I'm not sure if that is a thing or what, but I'd be bugged if I didn't keep it. This truly is an album for escapism, it's an album to get completely lost in. Great songs, great artwork, great production. Although just a thing about the colours. They went something like: (2XLP) White/ White /500 X Red/ White /900 X Black/ Black /1500. Surely the whole Costa Rica thing would have called for the three colourways to be Blue/ Red and White right? 

I'll try to not post another RFC release next, but today's post was from RFC. We'll see how it goes...