Leif Podhajsky's record covers in this book go far beyond the usual studio headshot of the artist or group, though there is one example of that with London Grammar's 2017 'Truth is a beautiful thing' with a prominent shot of singer Hannah Reid but the CD digipak cover folds out to an abstract of a desert landscape, so it's not really the usual cover after all.
The book is divided into four main sections: Synesthesia; Nature; Digital ritual; Anthropocene. Each has an essay and large illustrations, some a spread wide so they look quite stunning. Podhajsky's record packaging for fourteen rock and indie groups is split over the four main sections. Quite varied abstract designs are meant to reflect the feel of the music though looking at some of the complex swirling shapes and beautiful colors I can't help feeling that much of Podhajsky's work will outlast some of the music from these groups.
There is hardly any mention of how Podhajsky creates these dramatic images, Photoshop has a brief mention on page 173 but a lot of the work seems very similar to the use of Mandelbrot sets to create fractals. The back pages have a chronology of covers from 2010 to 2020 and most of them feature abstractions.
There are 250illustrations in the book, well printed on a lovely matt art paper. Certainly, a worthwhile book if you want to what contemporary commercial art is up to.
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