Mumford&Sons - Sigh No More

Here I will be analysing the digipak, 'Sigh No More' by the band Mumford & Sons. When looking at the front cover, this is seen to see the composition of the band standing in the window of a shop. This may represent the band as being down-to-earth, as the high street would be associated with the middle class person instead of the rich and famous, of which the band are. The colour scheme of these shots, shows that these were captured in high key lighting,  suggesting that these were taken during the day. Overall, the digipak projects a sense of purity as the majority of the album is white in colour. The other colours such as browns and greens are usually associated with nature, suggesting that the music produced by the band is natural rather than artificial, unlike that of genres such as electronic. The typography on the cover additionally sees this album to appeal to the elder youth to a greater extent. The use of a serif font, gives the album a more formal appearance as this font is more commonly associated with writings in letters. Furthermore, with the font being aligned central and in capital letters this would suggest that the band perceive this information as important, giving both the band and the album an identity. This is so due to band using the same font as a consistency throughout their albums, acting as a symbol or logo to recognise the band by. Having the band within the composition further allows the audience to connect with the genre of the music, associating with and creating links between the fashion of the band, influencing youth subcultures.
The same theme is carried onto the back of the digipack, seeing a window composed central. One would say that this is a close up shot of the original long shot image on the front cover. Likewise, the typography is identical, being aligned central and having vertical lines in between each of the songs, interlinking with the underlining of the text on the front cover. The bar code and mediated logos also follow this formatting.
When looking at the inside of the digipack, the middle face of the pack is seen to hold the image. This sees the composition of four windows, each with a band member sitting within. Again, this allows the audience to get familiar with the artists, placing an image of the bands name and possibly even the indie pop genre. When looking at the dress of the band, this fits into the typical Indie Pop look with the band members wearing shirts, those of the quintessential denim or tartan style. This can therefore interlink with other bands that I have studied such as Scouting For Girls and Bastille.
To the left of this, a plain white background is seen with a small intricate image. This is furthermore seen on the artwork upon the disc, suggesting this image is acting as a logo for the band. Analysing the disc, this compliments the colour scheme using two contrasting colours of black and white. Again, identical typography is presented on the disc, aligned central in the same font and size as that on the front of the album cover. The artwork on the disc is kept minimal, representing the typically slow and calm pasted music of the band. This opposes a busy and colourful piece of artwork, that which I would associate with a more upbeat genre.


Looking at the the magazine ad for the promotion of the Mumford & Sons album, this is seen to mirror the trend and appearance of the digipak. Correspondingly, white is used as the predominant background colour, having constant capitalised typography with the digipak. Having the text composed at the top of the advertisement in a large font further grabs the audiences attention, with the natural instinct to read from top to bottom. The advertisement has limited text upon it, rather choosing to promote the artwork of the album, to familiarise the audience with the appearance of the digipack. Additionally this has been sized to realistic dimensions, enabling the audience to establish themselves with the proportions of the artwork. Looking in the bottom left hand corner, the album was awarded the Mercury Prize for An Album of the Year. This may therefore act as an incentive or influence for audiences to buy the album due to recommendations from within the music industry, a non-bias source. For more information on the Mercury Prize see below:
Mercury Prize Information
Opposite, in the bottom right hand corner the typography displays; 'Gentlemen Of The Road'. This refers to the bands concert, being geographically situated in the US, Europe, Canada and Australia. Hence, this is featured upon the album in hope to advocate their concert, both for their audiences and own benefit.