3 cover stories in our archive
Behind the Covers' archive includes 3 album covers documented under the "electronic" design theme, spanning the 1990s, 2010s. These covers sit within the electronic, pop, alternative tradition and feature work by Jamie xx, Grimes, Aphex Twin. Each entry below includes the cover artwork, the designers and photographers behind it, and a short story about the visual choices that defined the release.
Jamie xx's debut solo album features a deceptively simple cover that captures the essence of his color-obsessed electronic music through minimalist typography and bold chromatic choices that reflect the album's synesthetic approach to sound.
Grimes drew the Visions cover herself in a two-day burst, aiming for something beautiful, violent and dense enough to reward close looking. Claire Boucher filled the sleeve with skulls, eyes, symbols, text and science-fiction imagery, turning the album into an audio-visual world rather than a record with a decorative front.
An oil painting of Richard D. James's face in classical portraiture style — his broad, slightly sinister grin rendered with Old Master technique — satirizes fine art conventions while establishing the Aphex Twin's unsettling grin as a recurring visual motif.