Limelight
HARP
Ex-Midlake man looks to medieval England and 80s music production for inspiration.
THE LONE FIGURE in a cloak holding an acoustic guitar on the cover of Albion might seem familiar. That’s because it’s Tim Smith, co-founder of alternative folk-rockers Midlake, and the artwork for his debut LP as Harp is inspired by ancient English history and some recognisable prog-folk sleeve art such as John and Beverley Martyn’s Stormbringer! and John Boorman’s 1981 medieval fantasy flick, Excalibur.
The image was taken on an iPad while out with his wife Kathi Zung “pretty close to our house in Durham, North Carolina, on a snowy day”, Smith tells us on a Zoom call.“We thought,‘Let’s just go take an example that could possibly be the cover. We really liked it, but it was poor quality, so we went back the next year but the snow and grass never looked the same, and I just couldn’t stand the same way.”