AUDIBLE SIGH AUDIBLE SIGH
AUDIO PACKAGING FOR VIGILANTES OF LOVE

VIGILANTES OF LOVE: AUDIBLE SIGH

Nearly two decades after I first designed Audible Sigh for Vigilantes of Love and Rhythm House Records, songwriter Bill Mallonee asked me to return to the album for a limited-edition vinyl reissue. There was one complication: almost none of the original digital artwork still existed.

What followed was equal parts restoration, archaeology, and redesign. I tracked down original band photography from Lex Thompson (the brother of my longtime photographer Wendi Poole), rediscovered the archival cover image, rebuilt typography, logos, stencil overspray, distress marks, and other fragments from scratch, and dug through my own archives for pieces of the original back cover—a wall texture, a mechanic’s claim ticket, and an old woodcut bird. Then I expanded a design created for CD packaging into a four-panel, 12-inch gatefold sleeve.

The larger format also created room to reconsider details that had barely been legible the first time around. Working closely with Bill, I refined the liner notes and interior imagery, and tucked in a new small detail for attentive fans: fragments from Frederick Buechner’s Godric, a book meaningful to both of us. The result preserves the spirit and imperfections of the original while giving one of my favorite early music projects a second life.

PROJECT CREDITS

Creative Direction & Design: Paul Soupiset