As the excellent Secret 7”project reaches its fifth anniversary, head honcho Kevin King picks out some of his favourite pieces, all of which take sleeve design to a fascinating new level.
Secret 7” takes seven tracks from seven of the best-known musicians around and presses each one 100 times to 7” vinyl. We then invite creatives from around the world to interpret the tracks in their own style. 700 sleeves are exhibited and then sold for £50 apiece, with proceeds going to different good causes (this year we're supporting Amnesty International UK). The ‘secret’ part is that you don’t know who created the sleeve, or even which song it’s for until you've parted with your cash.
Secret 7” is now five years old. With every year we see a rise in the number of physical submissions, and 2016 is no exception. In the past we’ve had sleeves made of wood, felt, metal, concrete, collage, paint, you name it. I’ve picked out five examples from this year’s show to highlight how the project enables our contributors to reimagine a record sleeve however they wish.
Sleeve #608
This one is probably the least secretive of all our sleeves this year. There isn’t much mystery around the artist or the track it’s for but I have so much love for it. It’s an example of just how far contributors to the project push the traditional notion of a record sleeve, and also the incredible time and effort people take. Sleeve #148
I can’t recall any sleeves made of glass in the past. This year we’ve got a number of wonderful uses of the material, I’m particularly fond of this. We had our fair share of spectacles for one of our 2016 tracks, If you pick a popular theme you have to make it exceptional to stand out, this gets a massive tick in that box for me. Sleeve #077
This is the second year in a row a designer we’ve invited has asked me to send them the vinyl, after Non-Format sealed Peter Gabriel’s Sledgehammer inside concrete last year This time the record has been melted down and encased in a bespoke solid acrylic piece. Let’s hope the eventual buyer of it isn’t planning on playing this one… Sleeve #043
We’ve always sought out artists and included artworks that make us laugh, so when we confirmed our tracks this year I was hoping we’d get a response like this for one of them. The execution is so good. I’m not sure the musician would go for it as an official release but then again that’s an element that makes the Secret 7” refreshing and special. Sleeve #007
This year we hosted three workshops at Sonos Studio in the run up to the exhibition with Pete Fowler, The Counter Press and Collage College. Anything made on the day could be submitted for consideration to go in the show. It’s something we’ve wanted to do for a few years now and they didn’t disappoint. This is one of a number of great sleeves to come out of those.
Take a peek at the sleeves in the online gallery here or see them in person at Sonos Studios in Shoreditch, Tuesday to Sunday, 10am- 6.30pm until 01 May. The sleeves go on sale on 02 May 2016, on a first-come, first served basis.
secret-7.com