Charles Cohen is a Philadelphia, Pennsylvania area-based free jazz musician and composer, one of the few musicians to have mastered the Buchla Music Easel, an extremely rare instrument. Recently the Morphine Records, under the guidance of Rabih Beaini, has decided to release a series of three records of this important author, both to re-propose his opus to a contemporary audience as well as to re-frame his work in the history of music.
We have been working for Morphine Records for a while and have chosen our adaptation of Forma typeface for all of its supports. Thus, this project was no exception. The three records are characterized by the initials of the author, Charles Cohen, who always uses them to sign his work.
Three records, Group Motion, The Middle Distance and Music For Dance and Theater
The use of initials is reminiscent of archives, collections, anthologies or retrospectives: a series of letters that categorize a project — being at the same time quite similar, continuous, serial, as well as always different, very specific and precise. For this reason, each cover is distinguished by the author’s initials and the first letters of the work’s title, thus building a collection of three records that are almost identical, yet extremely different. Our aim was to emphasise the fact that the records were all part of the same collection, taking a step back from the usual approach that gives to each work a very different visual appearance and flair. The white-on-black lettering and the geometrical simplicity of the cover, give it a bold and authoritative voice.Additionally, the sleeves of the records were conceived to give an in-depth view on the author’s work, where archival images and liner notes written by important personalities from the musical industry explain each of the works. This way, the record itself becomes a sort of a testimony of the author’s creative output, a moment of reflection and analysis, reminiscent of John Cage’s old records. We have also designed the cover and a 16 page booklet for an edition of 2 CDs of Charles Cohen’s work.
Music For Dance and Theater, front (above) and back (below)
The Middle Distance, cover (above) and inner sleeve (below)
Inner sleeves of the three records
Music For Dance and Theater, side A
For more information about Charles Cohen, see an article on Wire. We are very proud to announce that this series was selected by Juno among the best covers of the year 2013.