Sculptural graphic design and art direction for record sleeves by Lafont London

It’s cool to work with clients like Warp and Dazed, but it’s really cool to work with some of the most difficult, unique and ear-splittingly loud musicians out there and make something beautiful. Sunn O))) are a musical outfit renowned for shows so loud they become almost an endurance, and Lafont London recently unveiled some suitably spiky, yet refined and complex artwork for the band’s new album, Kannon.

The designs are based around a sculpture that the studio’s founder Angela Lafont Bolliger created, inspired by Italian baroque sculpture Ecstasy of Saint Teresa by Gian Lorenzo Berninis. “Sunn O)))’s compositions are minimal but intensely sculptural in depth and detail. This was my inspiration and it was important to me to transcend that idea into the sculpture I would create for the album artwork,” Angela told The Quietus.

The piece was formed using different reflective materials, alongside rocks and crystal forms to represent the multi-limbed Guanyin – the god of mercy – which is at the centre of the concept.

Angela is no stranger to working with musicians that will never be described as “easy listening,” having also designed a brightly coloured concept for Tim Hecker new album. In something of a contrast to the often dark paths his music treads, the designs take a hot pink and electric blue palette, with soft-focus blends. It’s a gorgeously dreamlike aesthetic, and one that works superbly for the commission.