This is the third album I have worked on with Coco. She asked that the cover be fun and intelligent. A kaleidoscope seemed to me to fit the bill, being an instrument of science but meant to be enjoyed simply by all. The repeating image also forms a sun in the negative space.

The punchline of her track ‘Intellectual Boys‘ is Pi. It’s featured here in all it’s glory to six decimal places.

Coco is an avid cyclist, and bicycles make a regular appearance in her songs. The disc image was inspired by the aerial shots you can see televised by the Tour De France, as the peloton makes it’s way around a traffic island.

Included in the first 1000 copies were fabric vouchers, redeemable at shows. I silkscreened them all on reused fabric, then shipped them to the replicators to be stuffed into the sleeves before shrink wrapping.

Coco and I had a lot of fun shooting these photos. She was a good sport, jumping and hopping around for several hours till we got the shots we needed.

Joyful has been nominated for 4 awards: Female artist Recording of the Year and Songwriter of the Year at the East Coast Music Awards, Female Album of the Year and Jazz Album of the Year at the Nova Scotia Music Awards.

photography: Simon Farla
illustration: Simon Farla