As I work on many projects, some fast and some slow, I rarely have time to deeply invest in a project and client to the level I have with this record "You Deserve an island" By Chase Huglin. Months ago I got a random email from a kid named Chase looking for album artwork. He had liked the previos work I had done with bands like All Get Out, Manchester Orchestra and others. The record he needed art for was't even done yet but he wanted to get the conversation going. I liked this dude from the jump because he seemed youtfully excited about music, toured and played out a ton and was from Fort Wayne, IN, where my wife and I got married. That town is special to me.
Months passed and he was about to head to the studio and then his recording enginener dropped off the planet for him. I waited. Then his mother passed somewhat suddently and I again waited, but I waited with heartbreak. This young dude just lost his mother and is about to go record a record. We had talked design ideas but I knew with the passing of his mother and an record soon to be recorded, somethings would change.
His mother had passed right before mothers day and when everyone was posting social media hugs and kisses about their mothers, Chase read a line on one of the posts that blew his mind. He told me about it. It blew my mind too. " You deserve and island, but I only gave you flowers". This quote that would become part of the record title, stuck with me and realy afefcted me.
Around that time I was working on concept art for a semi-popular band's upcoming artwork. This band (who's name I won't divulge uless you ply me with booze) wanted to get started on the album art process but had no vision, no album titles and no opinons on what the record will be about. They just wanted to see something "cool and timeless", which is code for "we don't know what we want till we see it." I worked on a dozen ideas an concepts becaue they wanted to use me since I had done previous work with them. They didn't dig any of them. Then the said "we might call the album 'Somebody loves you" or some crap like that. So i had this quick idea of someone handing off flowers to someone else. After I mocked up some ideas for this band, which I thought looked amazing, I realized that this idea, which would later get denied by the mystery band, was MORE than perfect and on point for Chase's " You Deserve an Island" record. I quickly mocked it up and Chase Loved it.
Fun side note: The person holding the boquet of flowers on the cover is my wife Leah's arm. And on the interior of the CD and LP there is another similar image of my wife's arm as well as my 3 year old daughter's arm.
I couldn't be more happy about how this record art turned out because it was born out of the sadness in my heart for Chase and to make a bright and beatiful image of what it means to love someone as much as Chase loved his mom.
His record is really good. Everyone should pick it up and give it a listen and let the quote "You deserve and island but I only gave you flowers" tattoo itself on your soul.
Get the record at Chase's bandcamp page or the label's page.