M.A.R.C. and the Horsejerks “Husbandry”
M.A.R.C. and the Horsejerks are a very talented group of musicians who delightfully blend inventive pop music with humor. If you ever get a chance to see them live, each member is fully dressed and acts in character. Their leader is M.A.R.C., the gruff son of a Grecian horse breeder. You’ll have to look more closely at the art to figure out what the acronym stands for.
The beauty of M.A.R.C. and the Horsejerks is that they’ve built a unique fictional world all their own. For the cover, we wanted to include all the colorful characters who inhabit M.A.R.C.’s life. They had the concept to take his head and extend the iconic blond dreadlocks out in all directions. Interwoven into the hair, you will find: Stan, M.A.R.C.’s nemesis/stepfather and Tawny, his girlfriend as she peers back at the viewer with a look of catatonic horror. The other band members orbit along with various objects from lyrical content, the live show, or whatever. All of this was composited in Photoshop.
The back cover of the vinyl jacket features a very detailed and abstract illustration of a horse marvelously painted by Shauna Groves. This is framed by a reiteration of the blond hair, tying this disparate art style to the front cover. The track listings and credits are purposely unobtrusive with varying orientations to make way for the stunning visual. The vinyl labels feature cartoony letterforms amongst other significant items from the world of M.A.R.C. These were drawn in pencil by Justin Stimson, the creator and member who plays M.A.R.C. in the band. The image was extended to neatly fit the circular frame, retouched, and carefully converted to grayscale for print production.
Husbandry was well received and spawned a short tour. Anticipating sales on the road, the band had Ganyoon convert the vinyl package into a more economical CD package. Some elements needed to be rearranged to fit this format, but everything transferred well into a handsome 2-panel sleeve package.