Sqwink Album Art Blog

I’m used to hearing a new Hot Chip track—and then at some point discovering the album artwork which represents it. These CD covers, such as Hot Chip’s The Warning, Colours and Over and Over are both bright and colorful. These covers are what I’m used to seeing—and what I imagine their work would look like in future releases.

Now, with the release of Hot Chip’s new album Made in the Dark, these connotations of what the cover-style is expected to be like are blown away (see above).

In a nutshell, I think this album artwork is both bland and dull—but still quite imaginative in a very niched-sort-of-way. Don’t get me wrong, just because Hot Chips’ previous albums have been colorful doesn’t mean they have to stick to that style forever, I just think that in this case, they should’ve done.

Overall, the real question is—Does this album art represent Hot Chip’s music and style…well yes. It may be bland and may be boring, but it is different, it is unique and is recognizable as a Hot Chip CD cover. At the end of the day, that is what sleeve’s are all about—selling the music.

So has the designer put a lot of thought into this design? Yes. Could it have been better? Yes. Was it made in the dark? Er, you tell me!