“Creative musicians are born with a huge hole in their being, which can only be satisfied by being understood through their music,” muses Margarita (aka Maggie), vocalist of rising London quartet Heel. Supercharged by this hardwired urge for musical catharsis, Heel have spent last year tirelessly touring their self-titled debut release, cementing an international fanbase in the process- 2013 saw their touring schedule incorporate a successful headline tour of Japan.
EP ‘Stranger Just The Same’ sawees release on the 28th July and here they discuss the creation of the artwork for it…
“Maggie and myself Dan designed the EP artwork and Maggie drew it all herself by hand. We wanted the style of the artwork to reflect the style of the music. We try not to overproduce or overthink our music. We start with one clear idea and then let the song develop organically from there. We wanted the Artwork to have that same organic feel so we made sure it was all done by hand, with as little detail as was needed to communicate what we wanted to say.
When it came to that concept, we had two very clear ideas we wanted to convey about modern relationships. Firstly we wanted to show the dependency love can bring for a person you may not even know that well. The title and lyrics of the lead track deal with what it would be like to love someone who is scared to fully open up to you. We thought the two figures facing away from each other but holding hands was a great way to show how familiar and unfamiliar two people can be simultaneously.
The lyrics of the remainder of the EP go on to talk about different sides of our relationships. We talk a lot about falling in and out of love and hoping for a brighter future, so we also wanted the artwork to show that. We wanted it to reflect how people in love can be so delicate and create something beautiful from something that can be equally harsh and cold. The two characters on their own are skeletal and somewhat formless, but by showing these figures hearts and eyes connected by an intertwined flowering vine, we wanted people to see how love can beautifully unite emotions and desires and allow two cold harsh characters to create something beautiful.
It came out very different to what you might expect a rock band to have as their cover art, but as with everything we do, we really don’t try to be different, just honest!”
Heel released ‘Stranger Just The Same’ on July 28th | https://www.facebook.com/Heellondon
Watch the official video for single ‘Gone’ now:
