Last night, Cormorant sent out an e-mail to anyone who has ever purchased something from their online merch store or Bandcamp page unveiling the album art for their forthcoming release, Dwellings. And you will notice right away that it’s pretty, uh, unique. It’s too massive to fit on the front page, so please click on the image to make it bigger:

Never mind the fact that I can’t remember ever seeing album art that’s totally vertical like this before; shit gets even more impressive once you actually look at all the detail, and read the band’s description of the work:

“The Dwellings album art was hand-drawn, with digital post-production, by the incredibly talented British artist Alice Duke.  The idea was ambitious: a massive, vertical 3-panel Digipak cover.  The album unwraps sideways like a set of wallet photos.  The art depicts several scenes from the album’s lyrics, and was designed to evoke the same feelings of chaos, mystery, and exploration as a Pieter Bruegel or Hieronymus Bosch painting.  Alice and the band put a lot of love into the piece, so we hope you enjoy it!  It will be printed on matte finish, and will included a full booklet for the lyrics and credits.”

Pretty frickin’ sweet, right? But wait! It gets sweeter. From that same e-mail:

“Since we’re a completely independent band, we owe everything to our fans.  Without your continued support, we can’t keep on releasing music.  With that in mind, we wanted a way to thank our long-time listeners.  So we came up with this idea: by putting in an order for our limited-edition deluxe bundle, YOUR NAME will be printed in the credits of the album.  That’s about as permanent a thank-you as we could offer!  So not only will you be able to listen to the album, you’ll be a part of it, credited as a band benefactor.”

Physical space in the booklet is obviously limited, and there’s a strict October 3 deadline to get your name in there, ’cause after that, they need to send the booklet off to the printers. So if you wanna be included, you should go pre-order Dwellings right now. There’s four different editions, ranging in price from thirty bucks to sixty bucks. Which is totally reasonable, when you a) see what’s in those packages and b) keep in mind that the band is gonna thank you by putting your name in the booklet. All the details are available at the pre-order page.

And then Dwellings will finally come out on December 6. Get stoked.

-AR