Now that Secret 7” is over for another year, and all the records have been sold, we can finally reveal which sleeve belonged to which jelly artist.
The immensely popular exhibition, which took place at Somerset House, featured work from eleven of our talented illustrators. Each of them took the time to tell us why they picked their chosen record, and what inspired the artwork.
jelly London @ Secret 7"
Jordan Carter
Diana Ross and the Supremes - Reflections
“For my Secret 7"s sleeve design I wanted to try something new while sticking to my detailed pencil/graphic style, so I created the whole thing by hand using pencils and paper collage. I also wanted to keep it fun and not go for any obvious connotations to the songs title, and chose to illustrate why or when you might listen to the song.”
James Dawe
Underworld - Born Slippy
“The track Born Slippy was based on Underworld lyricist, Karl Hyde’s snapshots of getting home through London’s West End under the influence, and seeing beauty in the underbelly of the city. My interpretation was to take an object that summed up a segment of the city, and treat it in a vibrant energetic 90s rave-inspired way. I painted the physical piece, which exists in my semi-urban back garden.”
Matt Johnstone
Underworld - Born Slippy
“To me, this song represents losing it, letting go and being unrestricted. I tried to produce a drawing that reflected this feeling by using doodles I collected over a number of years. I had subconsciously drawn these doodles while on the phone in my studio, at lunch or generally not thinking about anything, and combined elements of them into one final piece. I have no idea what any of it is about, but then that is the point of it.”
Mimi Leung
Underworld - Born Slippy
“I was reading about the origins of the song and discovered that one of the guys was an alcoholic at the time and the words are kind of like his internal dialogue on a night out. All his different manic thoughts are strung together loosely, connected through booze and partying. I didn't draw this whilst drunk but I took the opportunity to create something looser than I normally would and just had a lot of fun with it.”
(Front)
(Back)
Matt Lyon
Diana Ross and the Supremes - Reflections
“The design first took a more literal direction as I illustrated elements from the song's lyrics, as well as working on a portrait of Diana Ross. Although I was initially happy with the elements, I soon had problems trying to create a cohesive composition. It was moving towards something quite complex, detailed and unsuitable for the project. As such, all the work was shelved and I started again.
“My second attempt focused upon a single line from the song: 'Trapped in a world that's a distorted reality', and I built upon previous work to explore a symmetrical design. I made use of shapes and patterns to create an abstract landscape, then used rotational symmetry on a slanted axis to make it appear more dynamic. Due to the 7-inch size of the design, it felt important to keep the image bold with flat colours and outlines. The additional reverse panel creates a second reflection so that ultimately the work can be displayed either front or back, and at any 90° rotation.”
Steve Simpson
Diana Ross and the Supremes - Reflections
“I chose this track because it was on the very first tape I owned way back in the early 70s. I'd bought it from Woolworths with a record voucher I’d been given for my 13th birthday. It was really the start of my life long interest in Motown. The track dates back to 1968 however, and I would have heard it on my portable transistor radio with the single off-white coloured plastic ear bud. I remember having a lot of fun trying to get the best reception... hence the self portrait of little me.”
Jo Bird
St Vincent - Digital Witness
“With everyone currently so addicted to social media and networking sites, there’s a tendency to feel that, unless it happened online it never really happened at all. We seem to be a summation of our online personas and what we upload, download, like and blog about. St Vincent sings this particular lament and so I took my idea from there; by removing the features from the portrait of a woman and then replacing this with her 'digital' face – the one that she shows the world. The square format of the record lent itself well to recreating the 'Facebook' profile head shot.”
Alex Tait
Dead Flowers - Rolling Stones
“Aside from drug use, I feel the song is about rising above what people throw at you - being happy is the best revenge. Despite its serious subject matter, I think that the delivery of the song is tongue in cheek and playful so I tried to feed that into my illustration. It depicts a cowboy somewhat oblivious to his enemies’ advances – and whilst they are falling over themselves trying to get at him he just keeps on facing forwards and smiling.”
Caroline Tomlinson
Underworld – Born Slippy
“The ultimate track from my youth. Impossible for me not to dance around too, or pick for this project. "She was a lipstick girl" and "shouting 'lager, lager,lager" - with these lines, it should need no introduction.”
Hannah Warren
Diana Ross and the Supremes - Reflections
“The kaleidoscopic design distorts a perfect 1960’s family portrait. I wanted to explore through pattern and colour the Psychedelic influences of this colourful and upbeat Motown classic which is underpinned with loss and regret within the lyrics.”
“Reflections of the way life used to be, Reflections of the love you took from me.”
Damien Weighill
Sledgehammer - Peter Gabriel
“There's nothing subtle about the track so I've tried to be equally unsubtle with my artwork. Each of the hunks I've drawn represents a line from the lyrics... 'you could have a steam train / if you'd just lay down your tracks' 'you could have an aeroplane flying / if you bring your blue sky back' 'I'm your sledgehammer / let there be no doubt about it'.”
