Judging A Cover By It’s Cover: Peter Moren “The Last Tycoon”

August 13, 2008 by John Foster  Send to a Friend

John Foster takes music packaging very seriously. He has deconstructed the design of the recording industry through his personal work and his books, Maximum Page Design (HOW), New Masters of Poster Design (Rockport) and the upcoming For Sale: Innovative Solutions in Packaging Design (HOW) as well as a monograph of Sub Pop’s Art Director, Jeff Kleinsmith, slated for publication by the label in 2008.

He will be poking and prodding various albums on a weekly basis so please be sure to keep an eye out!

This week’s victims:

Is it worth listening to no matter what it looks like? I intended to review this release as soon as it came out but something made me hold off. I knew that I wanted to like it and I thought/hoped that might come with a little more time. Gaining a reprieve, I listened and listened to no avail. I still enjoyed it on some levels but was left wanting on others. Moren’s plucked guitar and fragile voice and wry lyrics are front and center in “Reel Too Real” but I also notice immediately that his vocal melody follows the guitar pattern to a tee and manages to crowd out a song with very little going on. He even drops down awkwardly with a late bass note in each line and a meaningless bridge only serves to highlight my concerns. “Missing Link” is a little too 70s balladesque in a sticky sweet way that can only be saved with an exceptional melody - which unfortunately is not available here. This is like a Sleepy Jackson b-side. “Old Love” tweaks the production to seem as if played on a transistor radio into a glossy popjazz ballad, which is fine, but the technique served no purpose sonically or otherwise. I have a sneaking suspicion it is employed just to separate the same sounding trip we are on at this point. These songs require a crooner of a high pedigree, which Moren is not (as charming as his voice is.)

“Le Petit Coeur” mixes in French lyrics and a rolling moody acoustic guitar and “Tell Me In Time” ups the ante with a bossanova swing to it, and something he seems well suited to wrap his voice around. It still lacks a spark. “My Match” plugs in the guitar and adds reverb, but comes off like a demo rather than a fully fleshed out song, although the yearning little guitar solo just needs a note or two rearranged to hit the spot. The wordy single “Social Competence” is indeed the strongest track here (shame it is the next to last track), compliments of a meandering melody, handclaps and a big chorus and a joyous harmonica romp. It is telling that it really the only “complete” song here and still pales in comparison to his work in Peter, Bjorn and John; which is so disappointing knowing the heights he is capable of.

Credit: “Drawings by Christine Jacobsson, Sleeve design by Joppen, Christine and Peter.”

Any signs of creative interference in the design process by the artist? Obviously…

Does the look fit the sound? The songs were recorded in-between other projects and I do enjoy the irony of the title along with the portrait of Moren sleeping (something he must not have done much of with all that is on his plate. Joppen Frossen is a Swedish designer best known for his work with Johnossi and he is likely responsible for the tired selection of a fake typewriter font (so 1995). The type is also used in a fashion that is a little large given the nuances of the other elements. I can hope that this was to approximate the actual size as if typewritten but it may also just be lacking in sophistication.

The entire package is saved by something that I generally advocate heartily against: Moren’s girlfriend, Jacobssen did the charming drawings of him in various states of facial growth. She captures a simple setting and manages to evoke all of the appeal in the songs within in the stripped down execution. Amazingly, these drawings use limited color and establish shapes with full blocks. The lack of intermingling between the graphite pencil and colored portions wherever possible provides the power and beauty on display - with only that simple choice. The cropping and “design” of the pieces is far superior to the actual layout placed around it. Somehow Jacobsson manages just the right amount of detail in each image to complete it without making it busy or compromised in any way. It’s not as easy as she makes it look, but rather an ingrained talent and perspective.

In clarifying the Foster design rules it looks as if I need to place an asterisk next to the “never use girlfriend’s artwork for cover” entry.

Final score (out of 10): 7.0 design (heavily elevated due to the artwork), 5.0 for the music

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