Tame Impala, “Innerspeaker”

Tame Impala, Innerspeaker (2010)
Modular
Artist: Leif Podhajsky

Australian band Tame Impala released their debut album, Innerspeker, in 2010 to critical acclaim following a successful self-titled EP two years earlier. The band is heavily influenced by late ’60s and early ’70s psychedelic rock, combined with his love of pop melodies and “fucked-up explosive cosmic music.”

The artwork for the record was created by Leif Podhajsky. It is an image of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park in North Carolina. The image was manipulated using the Droste effect, simply placing the picture within itself, and was repeated using the recursion method. Instead of appearing the mountains continue, it’s simply the same image repeated over and over again.

Tame Impala frontman Kevin Parker only had the idea in mind for the cover: a scenic landscape repeating, but didn’t have the graphic design knowledge to carry it out. He found Podhajsky’s work and loved his cosmic art. He said:

“I think it’s pretty important that you have the right image for people to associate with the sound. Especially the colours. With the Innerspeaker cover we worked with a graphic artist for a long time to get the right shapes and colours.”

In 2010, the cover was nominated for an ARIA Award for Best Cover Art, but lost to Angus & Julia Stone’s By the Way. This wasn’t the end of Tame Impala’s partnership with, Podhajsky, however: he would go on to work on the art for their 2012 follow up, Lonerism.