Post War Plans album artwork

Two copies of Post War Plans album by Debris Discs falling through the air to show front, rear and vinyls

Background

Released in late 2023, Post War Plans is the debut album from AnalogueTrash artist, Debris Discs aka James Eary. James’ inspiration for the album was sparked by recently discovered letters home from James’ Grandpa to his brother during WW2. The letters span from his first posting in Egypt in 1942, through to VE night in 1945.

Working collaboratively, we initially explored four different concepts for the album artwork. Such was the beauty and the flow of the writing itself along with accompanying paraphernalia such as censor stamps, airmail icons, and paper textures, we settled on letting the actual letters shine through and accompany their transformation into song form.

We used the colours found in the letters and envelopes themselves as a base colour palette. Additional graphics used colour references from the camouflage found on British military vehicles from the period of the letters.

Montage of letters and envelopes from World War 2 which formed inspiration for the Post War Plans album from Debris Discs

Close up scan of a World War 2 letter which inspired the Post War Plans album by Debris Discs

Postage paid stamp scan and edit showing date 13th Feb 1943 used in artwork by Gavin Stretch for Debris Discs

airgraph stamp scan used in artwork for Post War Plans album artwork designed by Gavin Stretch

British World War 2 vehicles colour scheme used as colour references for Post War Plans album artwork by Gavin Stretch

Debris Disc's Post War Plans album front cover with sleeve and side 1 of vinyl sticking out from the right hand side

Result

James says: ‘My grandpa’s letters lit the fire for this record, so it made complete sense to centre the artwork around his words. When making Post War Plans I wasn’t particularly interested in history lessons or nostalgia. What excited me was the idea of using these incredible stimulus materials to create something new. Gavin’s design concept really embraced this approach.’

Post War Plans album artwork front cover designed by Gavin Stretch

Post War Plans album artwork rear designed by Gavin Stretch

Post War Plans vinyl labels Sides 1 and 2 side by side designed by Gavin Stretch

Two copies of Debris Disc's Post War Plans album laid out to show the front, rear and both sides of the vinyl

Post War Live

Following the release of Post War Plans, Debris Discs released Post War Live in 2024. The recording features five specially reconstructed songs from Post War Plans played live by James himself. A digital only release, I set about creating a variation of the original artwork, again using the colours found in the original letters. The result is much the same as the live recordings in that it is broken down and reconstructed from the original.