It was a cold December morning just after Christmas and made my way to Millbank Studios in Lisburn. I was there to capture the artwork for Malojian’s latest release “Southlands”. Millbank Studios is always a hive of creativity. The Lisburn based location offered an amazing backdrop for the cover with little interference.
Who is Malojian?
Malojian, also know as Stephen Scullion has released several solo albums over the last number of years. He has worked with some musical legends including Steve Albini (Nirvana, The Pixies…), Joey Waronker (Beck, R.E.M…), Gerry Love (Teenage Fanclub, Lightships), and Jon Thorne (Yorkston/Thorne/Khan, Lamb).
Malojian’s music is described as a “melodic & fresh while hinting at sounds of a bygone era, Malojian’s songs are dreamily intense, hewn from personal heartache and a sense of ravaged humanity evoking memories of the greats, from Gram Parsons and The Band through to Whiskeytown and Iron & Wine.” by Fra Jones, AU Magazine there is considerable anticipation for this latest release.
‘Southlands’ follows the successful debut album ‘The Deers Cry’ and this time Malojian has opted to pre-release the album through the popular pledge music system.
Album Art Concept
The concept was simple. We aimed to create a surreal image that was literally packed with relevant detail. We wanted to create the sort of image with hidden detail that could be looked at for hours. The man behind the drum is producer and multi-instrumentalist Michael Mormecha (Mojo Fury).
X100 Cameras
I was shooting with the X-T1 and 56mm for the breath taking depth of field. I naturally packed the Fujfilm X100T for good measure.
We shot over 100 different photographs experimenting with portraits, group shots and the surreal. In conclusion the final album cover was captured with the X100T and processed in Lightroom.
Interestingly, we used Creative Cloud to collaborate on the final choice of images. The whole Creative Cloud platform worked really well and sped up the workflow tremendously.
If you haven’t heard the work of Malojian it is well worth paying the Pledge page a visit.
“I love your music.” Bob Harris, BBC Radio 2
“beautiful” Lauren Laverne, BBC 6 Music
“achingly beautiful” Q Magazine
“I’m completely obsessed” Gary Lightbody (Snow Patrol)
“the North’s best songwriter over the last half decade” Hot Press Magazine
Malojian Links:
FlixelPix Links:
100 Photos Captured with the Fujifilm X100
Fujifilm 56mm Review
FlixelPix Music Photography
