"There's such a close connection between the images and each track, it was a no-brainer to present them side by side."
Aussie hip hop quartet Thundamentals have never been the type to colour inside the lines. From juggling one of the most hardcore touring schedules on the local hip hop circuit, to spearheading charity benefits like the Got Love initiative or their partnership with the National Centre of Indigenous Excellence, the Thundas — DJ Morgs, MC Jeswon, MC Tuka and DJ Poncho — are downright allergic to resting on their laurels. It should come as little surprise that the launch of their latest studio album, Everyone We Know, also features their trademark outside-the-box thinking. Instead of the common or garden launch tour, the Blue Mountains boys will present a touring art exhibition showcasing the album's fantastical cover art, by long-time collaborator Benjamin Funnell, of Sydney-based design studio April77 Creative.
"I knew we had an opportunity here to come up with something really unexpected, still embracing that idea of connectivity, but taking it into outer space — literally."
Funnell shares a long history with Thundamentals, crafting the band's design aesthetic since their commercial debut in 2009. For this latest album, however, he was given unprecedented freedom to run riot with his ideas. "The guys didn't come to me with a strong idea as far as the visual. It was more the concept of the album itself and the story it's telling," Funnell explains. "Everyone We Know is about people and connectivity. It's about their friends, their fan base, people they've connected with in their lives who have influenced them, supported them, believed in them. So every song is like a story about someone they know. That was the jumping off point. One of the initial ideas was a kind of montage or collage of photos, but that seemed too literal. I knew we had an opportunity here to come up with something really unexpected, still embracing that idea of connectivity, but taking it into outer space — literally."
Funnell has truly let his imagination run wild, distilling each track into a motley crew of psychedelic, sci-fi inspired characters. Ironically, despite its futuristic concept, there's retro reasoning behind this approach. The level of intricate detail and narrative weaved into this artwork is a nod to a time before streaming and iTunes. "When I was a kid, there were some album covers that were so incredible and vivid that I just looked at them for hours," Funnell shares. "I feel like that's something we've lost. A lot of people don't engage with album art at all anymore, because of the way we're consuming music, on Spotify or our devices or whatever. You're way less likely to sit down and actually acknowledge what that artwork brings to the whole feel of an album."
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By contrast, the launch tour for Everything We Know is putting Funnell's album artwork front and centre, through a touring exhibition as well as a limited edition book and vinyls. "There's such a close connection between the images and each track, it was a no-brainer to present them side by side," Funnell reveals. "The idea of using an exhibition as a way to launch this album isn't about making the music take a back seat to the imagery — it's about the imagery enhancing the stories behind each track."