As It Ever Was, So It Will Be Again

making album art

As It Ever Was, So It Will Be Again is the ninth studio album by The Decemberists. It comes out on June 14th.

I’ve had the pleasure of illustrating covers for all nine albums. I just counted, and if you include EPs and singles, I’ve illustrated covers for nineteen Decemberists releases since 2001.

I have a novel relationship with this band. I’m married to the singer/songwriter and have been their “illustrator-in-residence” for almost twenty-five years. Each album cover reminds me of a step along my creative path. There are large oil paintings, fussy graphite drawings, black and white designs, dynamic color experiments, narrative illustrations, and so many type treatments. There’s a Decemberists album cover to represent everything I’ve gotten into since I was twenty-five. Sometimes that’s uncomfortable. I don’t want to be reminded of a lot of the work I made in my twenties. I don’t love them all.

yes

no

maybe

But I do love them as a body of work and a chronology.