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By Duncan Smith, Communications & Media, Harmony Lounge & Music Club

While working on the “Origin Story” cover art, Isaac Tanner found himself drawing on past experiences in his designs. He utilized methods he had developed over years of creative experimentation, combining them to create an album cover holding elements from many who had come before.

Isaac, previously a member of Harmony-sponsored band “Nate The Nobody,” worked with Harmony as a stage technician for many of their concerts while living in Napanee. Now, away from home for post-secondary education, he found himself beginning a different task during September of last year.

“I’ve always loved album covers that used collages to draw the eye,” Isaac said. “The cover art for ‘Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band’ by the Beatles was a huge inspiration for my work, amongst many others.”

Even from a young age, Isaac found himself drawn to working with his hands. He would take magazines, articles, cutouts and similar items, bringing them together to create a collage of themes and ideas. When the idea surrounding an album cover was brought to him last year, his focus quickly locked onto a collage.

In between school hours and time allotted for other projects, the creation process began. Isaac used green tape to temporarily fix elements of the design in place, finding what worked and what didn’t. In the final version of the piece, items such as Sears catalogues and National Geographic entries from the 60s and 70s were used, all taken from Isaac’s lifelong collection. For a base, an old “no-good” vinyl record was used. These and other elements came together in the end to form a “controlled chaos,” one which Isaac worked to accentuate.

“I used electronic-looking lines, all following each other, to give the appearance of uniformity among the varied elements used,” Isaac described. “It was important to me that it looked uncontrolled, messy even, but still visually engaging.”

The lines served as the cherry on top, pushing the album cover over the finish line. Now, all it needed was the finished music and the project as a whole would be complete.

“I’m super excited to watch the album’s full release,” Isaac said. “It’s taken a lot to get to this stage already, and I can’t wait to see how it all pays off.”

Can’t wait either? Two songs from the “Origin Story” album; “Nothingness” by Jade Peter and “Two Ways” by Ethan Stein and Ava Nicholls, are already released. You can listen to them now via Spotify, Apple Music, and YouTube. The full album will be released alongside Harmony’s “Origin Story Album Launch” concert on February 23.