Analysis on PJ Harvey Album Cover

“Let England Shake” was PJ Harvey’s 8^th studio album after “White Chalk”, it was released in February 2011 and took the period of 2 and half years to write the entire album. It was named best album of the year in 2011 and won the Uncut Music Award in November 2011.

Analysing this albums front cover, it has a very simplistic look by only using black against white and it has the title within the middle. The effect of the splashed black paint filtering into little birds creates the illusion of a bird nest being shaken, representing England and the explosion being the music; indicating this album will be popular around England and many will hear about it. The explosion can also represent the growth within the artists and his music because it spreads far out, but the birds can symbolise the music being heard everywhere; also the birds flocking away has correlation with the word ‘shake’ being apart of the albums name.

The main image could also connote a picture of a black hole, by not giving any signs of what the album may contain and it gives off a mysterious look, or it can show the effect of loud music being played and the movement of how birds flee away when they’ve been irritated.

The title is what makes the album stand out more because the typography is bold and written in upper case lettering; also it looks like the birds are over taking the title which creates a nice effect because it gives the impression of the artist’s music taking over and getting a wider fan base.

This album doesn’t give away what type of genre it may be but the effect of the birds fleeing could suggest it generates from a loud genre such as Rock. This album may appeal to teenagers or people over the age of 25 because it looks enticing and there isn’t much on the album cover and that may appeal to them more rather than a lot going on.

This album would be successful because the simplicity of it makes it more intriguing and it would engage the consumer and get them to make their own opinion of the album. I think this album is branded well because you can’t tell it derives from the Alternative Rock genre and it has a subtle approach and the main image has many implications which an audience would like.