Analysing a CD cover- mumford and sons

Analysing a CD cover-

Mumford and sons- sigh no more

Image-

• The band are positioned in the corner of the cover, this could connote that the band don’t feel as though they are the most important aspect of the album. It could show that the band themselves aren’t as important as the music in which they create.
• The natural lighting used helps elevate the bands organic sounding music- shows a sense of originality.
• The white building that the band is standing in the window of connotes a sense of purity and innocence; this could suggest that the band’s music is pure in the sense of lyrics or the type of music they create.
• The costumes that the band is wearing are similar to things that they may wear on a daily basis. Each of the members is wearing something white, which reinforces the idea of purity within the band.
• Also, the fact that they each wear something of this kind, helps show the connection that is between them.
• The long shot that is used in the image could suggest that the band themselves are quite distant from the audience, but it could also show that they feel closer to their audience by their music.
• The props that are used such as the musical instruments, helps show the audience the role of each member of the band.

Copy-

·         The font used is quite simple and doesn’t really detract that much attention away from the rest of the image.

·         The fact that the title of the band and the album are positioned at the bottom of the cover shows that the band may have wanted the image to be more dominant when the audience were looking at the cover.

·         The colour of the font is black which connotes a sense of seriousness that the band may demonstrate in the music that the band creates.

Target audience-

• The target audience isn’t really elevated on the cover, but certain elements of the cover such as: the bands costume and the age that the band looks suggest that the target audience could maybe be adults.

Genre-

• The genre is shown by a number of different things. For example:
• The fact that some of the members of the band are wearing hats connotes a folk/ country feel to the music.
• Also the instruments used , aren’t necessary instruments that a pop or RnB would use for instance, therefore, the country feel of the music is also elevated through this way.- this is effective because, the audience can make a connection between the instruments that are used, and the music that the band create.

Mode of address-

• There is calm and natural mood created by the image and the colours of the album cover. The natural light helps the audience to feel a sense of ease whilst looking at the cover. This could help persuade the audience that the music on the album will have a similar affect on them.
• The fact that none of the band members are looking directly into the camera, could suggest that maybe the band feel as though they need their music to feel connected with the audience.- this almost creates an enigma for the audience, because it may cause them to question why they aren’t looking at the camera.

Title/name-

• The title of the album “sigh no more”, immediately makes me feel a sense of hope, which could make the audience feel hopeful towards the album.
• It also connotes a sense of joy, which could be elevated throughput the album.

Blurb/inlay-

• There is no text on the inlay of the album; just an image of each of the band members sitting in a window.- this could elevate the view if the band thinking that their music is the most important aspect of the album.
• The fact that the band look happy and joyful helps makes the audience feel this way, which again helps the audience get a feel for the album before they have even listened to it.
• The white building that is used helps to once again connote a sense of purity- the fact that there colour white is dominating the image again, could suggest that the album could have a pure feel to it in regards to the music on it.

Representation-

• A specific class or any class isn’t really represented throughout the album artwork; this could suggest that the CD could appeal to all classes. It could also suggest that the band may not feel as though class is something that is very important.
• The male gender is represented in both a stereotypical and counter typical way. For example:
• The inlay shows the band having fun, which is a countertype of the way in which men are usually seen as being- hard and serious.
• But on the other hand, the fact that there are only men throughout the album artwork reinforces the domineering side of the male gender.
• The album follows the dominant ideology of a county folk album in the sense of there are only white men on the cover or in the band- this could show that within the genre, this is typical.