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SINGAPORE: On July 11, local band Another Sunday Afternoon released their debut album, The Uncanny Tree Of Fractured Hearts. Despite having a mouthful of a title, the music itself is packed with short catchy riffs, punchy rhythms and nice melodies.
But what caught our eye was the fact that it came packaged like a book, with a subtitle that read "featuring the peculiar case of Janet Leno and other short stories".
The pages are filled with illustrations and the song lyrics are printed in prose format, making it look, well, pretty much like a collection of short stories.
For local bands, music is now page-turning stuff. This is the just the latest in a trend by local musicians to up the ante when releasing albums, from Shirlyn Tan's Newfound Jealousy to I Am David Sparkle's This Is The New.
Of course, this bookish trend isn't new. Many bands have adopted this format when releasing limited editions of their albums, including R.E.M.'s Monster, Take That's The Circus, Radiohead's Amnesiac and Eason Chan's Don't Want To Let Go. The latter two even came with an old-school library chit depicting borrowing dates.
STAND OUT FROM THE CROWD
But why go through such trouble?
"In this day and age, when you release a CD and just put it in a normal jewel case, I don't think it gets buyers interested," said Caleb Lye, guitarist and singer for Another Sunday Afternoon.
"When doing an album, it is very important for local bands that their album is different in terms of look and feel. That's what we're trying to do.
"The Observatory has been doing that, and Concave Scream, too."
In the case of The Observatory's latest release, Dark Folke, the album comes in a hardbound book, with illustrations by distinguished underground illustrator Justin Bartlett, and song lyrics printed a la poetry. But then, having nice album packaging has always been part of their aesthetic since their first album.
"It's nice to have something that you can feel and smell," said The Observatory's Vivian Wang. "The packaging reflects what the music is about. It should not take precedence over the music.
"This is just our way of recreating the whole music buying experience like old times. It's a bit of vanity, but... it's not just showing off music, it's showing off Justin Bartlett's art. And we think it's better to do it in a book rather than in an insert in a jewel case. I think it's so much fun when you get something like that," she added.
Rock outfit Concave Scream went the whole hog with the book theme for their latest release, Soundtrack For A Book.
Drummer Dean Aziz said the band wanted to do "something different" for their fifth album, not just musically - this is their first instrumental album - but also in terms of packaging. So, as per its title, the CD came packaged in a book. Literally.
"We spent a long time visiting bookshops... buying all these second-hand books. Then we had to drill a hole in the centre for the CD and secure it with a bolt and nut," said Dean. "It is a bit bulky. But we thought it would be interesting and fun."
You can even choose which book - from The Adventures Of Tom Sawyer to Don't Be Silly, Mr Twiddle to Cold Cash War - you would like to have from their website (www.concavescream.com). If you're talking limited edition, it doesn't get more limited than this - every album pack is unique.
MAKING SOMETHING THAT LASTS
It isn't cheap though. Those we spoke to didn't want to go into details, but Wang did say making a book "is totally unsound" financially.
"People say, 'Why do you spend so much on packaging?', but we always feel that this could be the last album because we don't know how much longer we can go on making music even if we want to. So we want to have something for people - and for ourselves - to treasure," added Wang.
"(Doing it like a book) was a pipe dream when I was younger, because the cost is definitely higher than a regular CD," added Lye.
"It's more than just a musical experience, it's a visual thing," he continued. "When I pick up a CD, I look at everything, like artwork and the concept that's behind the CD, because without all these things, I'm better off just downloading the songs. So we thought if we're going to put something on the shelves, we had to make sure that the consumer likes what they see as well as hear."
That, of course, isn't up to the bands, said Wang. "We're not the judge of that. It's up to the music fan to decide whether they like it or not."
The question is, of course, will the public bite?
"Packaging is incidental. I don't really bother about that. I'm more interested in the musical content," Dinesh Dillon, 40, a music enthusiast who said he prefers collecting CDs to downloading.
Others though, disagreed. "It's different from the norm, and it's always a plus to have something nice to look at while listening to the music," said undergraduate Eva S, 24.
Lynette K, 28, concurred: "Album art/packaging can affect my decision, but it depends. There have been times I bought CDs partly because the packaging looked cool, even though I wasn't 100 per cent sure if I would like the music."
However, financial consultant WK Hong, 36, had a valid concern: "How am I going to fit a book on my CD shelf?"
The Uncanny Tree Of Fractured Hearts, Soundtrack Of A Book and Dark Folke are available at selected CD stores, including Gramophone and HMV. Catch Concave Scream and The Observatory performing their new material at Hexa II, the second in a series of six Hexa concerts, Jul 25, 9.30pm at Blu Jaz Café Level 3, 11 Bali Lane. Tickets at S$20. Open bar all night. Free posters for the first 30 ticketholders.
- TODAY/yb
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