Re-Covered: Sally-Anne’s Illustrated Favourite Albums

If you’re anything like us, throughout Lockdown you may have been seeking refuge in some of your favourite records, perhaps rediscovering some old classics along the way. So, for this new feature, illustrator Sally-Anne Hickman re-imagines her favourite ten albums of all time by painting their covers in her own unique style, using watercolours.

Check out the sixth of Sally-Anne’s choices below, and keep your eyes peeled for the rest over the next few weeks…

The Muffs- Hamburger
This compilation album features songs, outtakes and demos recorded between 1991 and 1999. It really captures the punk-pop-rock sounds that this band is renowned for. It’s garage-pop at its finest with most songs coming in at three minutes, each with a tip of the hat to 1960s girl bands. Its choppy, distorted guitars, layered with the sweet vocal harmonies and rasping growl of Kim Shattuck, all add up a bumper album of songs. Complete classic.

 

Sally-Anne Hickman
@sallyshinystars

Five Favourites: GRANT

Following 2018’s album In Bloom, Swedish artist GRANT has now returned to grace our ears with new single ‘Words’. Oozing a raw emotion and shimmering musicality, it’s a heartfelt slice of enchanting alt-pop.

We think one of the best ways to get to know an artist is by asking what music inspires them or influences their writing. We caught up with GRANT to find out her “Five Favourites” – five albums that she’s found particularly influential. Check out her choices below, and make sure you watch the new video for ‘Words’ below.

4 Non Blondes – Bigger, Better, Faster, More!
This was my own very first CD, that my sister gave me when I was about eight. I learned how to sing belting along with Linda Perry. This album falls somewhere in rock n’roll land, with a touch of Linda Perry’s pop genius, and  listening to it felt like a roller coaster through a wicked landscape. I highly recommend that you listen to the Linda Perry episode of the Broken Record Podcast!

Björk – Debut / Post / Homogenic
This is my holy trinity, and I honestly didn’t know which of Björk’s albums to choose; each of these three have inspired me immensely. I love the unexpected dynamics and how in each delicious song she unfolds like an adventure so naturally.

Nina Simone – Wild Is The Wind
The first time I heard Nina Simone, she sang of experiences I’d never lived in a language I didn’t understand yet, but I felt so much. It was kinda heavy but also beautiful. Never has an artist expanded my world view like she did. I want to make music that makes someone young feel like that. 

Portishead – Dummy
I must’ve listened to this album more than a thousand times. When I first discovered trip-hop I thought it was the most ultimate genre, simply because it was genre-bending and contradictory (gloomy yet playful, soft and hard), and I still hold this to be true. Even though I’ve transitioned into a more pop soundscape, I’m still heavily influenced. Also, Beth Gibbons singing ‘Glory Box’ and smoking on stage is too sexy. 

Edith Piaf – À l’Olympia
As with Nina Simone she sang of experiences in a language I didn’t understand, but I was completely enchanted. The way she sings and poises herself with small movements that stir up a fucking whirlwind… I think you can hear her influence in my music in terms of both melodies and phrasing. I learned French from listening to her and I’m forever grateful for the impact she’s had on me.

Huge thanks to GRANT for sharing her Five Favourites with us! 

Watch the new video for ‘Words’ here:

 

Photo Credit: Angelina Bergenwall

 

Re-Covered: Sally-Anne’s Illustrated Favourite Albums

If you’re anything like us, throughout Lockdown you may have been seeking refuge in some of your favourite records, perhaps rediscovering some old classics along the way. So, for this new feature, illustrator Sally-Anne Hickman re-imagines her favourite ten albums of all time by painting their covers in her own unique style, using watercolours.

Check out the fifth of Sally-Anne’s choices below, and keep your eyes peeled for the rest over the next few weeks…

My Bloody Valentine – Loveless
The pioneers of shoegaze, MBV created such an original and unique sound that nothing has come close to replicating it since. Kevin Shields is an innovator of ethereal atmospherics, he introduced a palette of guitar textures that range from noise rock to undersea creatures. This album, a musical masterpiece, blends a blizzard of guitar noise with soft androgynous vocals from Bilinda Butcher and a trance-inducing tremolo to create a sonic carousel of sound.

 

Sally-Anne Hickman
@sallyshinystars

Re-Covered: Sally Anne’s Illustrated Favourite Albums

If you’re anything like us, throughout Lockdown you may have been seeking refuge in some of your favourite records, perhaps rediscovering some old classics along the way. So, for this new feature, illustrator Sally-Anne Hickman re-imagines her favourite ten albums of all time by painting their covers in her own unique style, using watercolours.

Check out the fourth of Sally-Anne’s choices below, and keep your eyes peeled for the rest over the next few weeks…

Smashing Pumpkins- Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness
This incredible alt-rock concept album, ten times platinum, has it all. Its stylistic range is so varied that it opens with a sweeping piano instrumental and takes us on a sonic journey that encompasses layers of heavily distorted guitars with orchestral strings. Twenty eight songs in length, none sound the same but they are all unmistakably Pumpkins tracks. Heavy rock epics with phenomenal drumming, electronic pop tunes, operatic themes with time signature shifts that leave you with whiplash!

Sally-Anne Hickman
@sallyshinystars