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Portugal. The Album Art

Alternative Press - Tim Karan on 5/7/09 @ 10:22 AM - altpress.com

While everyone else seems preoccupied with streamlining digital downloads, Portugal. The Man are working to keep album art alive and, well, elaborate. The band have revealed the artwork for their upcoming full-length, The Satanic Satanist, and it's a doozy.

Frontman John Baldwin Gourley collaborated with art designer Austin Sellers to an intricate package featuring the surreal drawings of Gourley in a fold-out that can be manipulated into different shapes.

Gourley says, "I've had this idea for a little while, but what it would take to actually make it happen seemed overwhelming. We had been talking about doing an album package without the plastic, to make the package one, solid piece where all the elements worked together from both an artistic and practical point of view. Every time you folded or unfolded it, everything still lined up to be a picture. Also, we wanted to incorporate a lot of [Gourley's home state] Alaska into the artwork, which is where all the photos of mountains in the artwork were taken. I'd like to say that's the reason and that it's some sort of marketing tool to get people to buy the album, but really, it's just such a huge part of what we do. Austin and I love sitting down and putting the packages together, and it's something that is really important to the band--to be able to offer fans something visual as well as the music. As musicians and artists, we're so lucky, because we get to be involved with all sides of art - album artwork, videos, posters, and t-shirts.""

The Satanic Satanist drops July 21 on Equal Vision Records.

Check out the artwork below.