Cover Art #1: Something In The Way
Covers of songs accompanied by original artwork. Letting art inspire art. Today’s issue is “Something In The Way” by Nirvana
This is the first issue in a series I’m calling Cover Art. It combines song covers recorded by me accompanied by original artwork. It’s an idea I’ve been baking for a while and I’m so excited to finally share it with all of you!
The Cover
“Something In The Way” - Written by Kurt Cobain, from Nirvana’s 1991 album Smells Like Teen Spirit. This is one of my favorite songs from the album. With its lofi sound and haunting vocal, it lulls you to a dark time and place. While initially thought to be a literal autobiographical story about a time with Kurt lived under a bridge, it was later suspected to be a fabricated story that captured the feeling of loneliness he was feeling during a period of homelessness.
The audio recording is all vocal tracks. I really wanted to replicate the aching and pining of the vocal into the other instruments, originally acoustic guitar and cello.
The Art
The charcoal artwork inspired by the music started as a free association of ideas that subconsciously ended up being an homage to Kurt’s fascination with anatomy with a sort of psychedelic spin. I wanted the art that accompanied the audio to be more dynamic so I used it to inspire the animations in the video. I largely used it as an excuse to learn ProCreate and LumaFusion, which I had and an absolute blast doing.
Completing this first project took longer than I wanted (mostly the animation) but I’m already excited and looking forward to putting together the next issue!
Wow! Such an incredible use of voice to create a haunting vibe for this bleak song. I am really impressed that you can deconstruct a well-known song and recreate it in a way that makes it an original of sorts. Adding the art/animation makes for a truly immersive experience.
I’m excited for the next issue, too!