Sheeps — Working the Machine Artwork & Vinyl Package

Album artwork, single covers, show promotion and 2x LP gatefold package for the debut album Working the Machine by New Zealand art rock 5-piece Sheeps.

"‘Working the Machine’ sees Sheeps as champions of the 99% – the down-trodden majority, who keep the world turning, poised moments from revolt – with the band’s sound on the album reflecting this overarching churning continuum on the verge of disintegration."

In creating the artwork for this album, we chose to represent that moment on the verge of disintegration, using the unassuming fly as a stand in for the latently powerful masses of the working class.

Taking cues from iconic album covers of acts such as Pink Floyd, The Velvet Underground, David Bowie and Joy Division, we wanted to create a work with a singular focus and instantly recognisable silhouette. This minimal focus and feeling of motion was then abstracted into a wider aesthetic that could be carried across the single covers, band merchandise and elements of the physical packaging.

In reference to the albums interludes (Cuneiforms I, II and III) we weaved a series of cuneiform symbols throughout the gatefold package, which can be decoded using the track titles as a kind of 'rosetta stone' to reveal the text of a hidden poem, etched into the unused D-side of the record.