From the Echo Department

Before becoming established as one of Scotland’s leading graphic designers, Daniel Ibbotson’s name was known primarily to the electro and deep house scene – something that might surprise his clients, a diverse cohort that ranges from start-ups and solo operations to global brands such as Paul Smith, BBC and Channel 4.

During the late 90s and early 00s Ibbotson released records with various labels including Language, Clear, Reel Discs, Compost, Soma/Fenetik and Glasgow Underground before ultimately committing to design and co-founding the internationally renowned agency Graphical House.

Ibbotson has kept the two disciplinary identities fairly distinct from one another until now, with the release of from the Echo Department, a double LP available to pre-order. The album artwork is a collaboration with acclaimed artist and designer Fraser Taylor. It contains 13 tracks produced over the last few years, with all profits going to two cancer research charities. Ten years ago, Ibbotson himself was diagnosed with multiple myeloma – a form of blood cancer.

“It’s not curable but it is fairly treatable so over the last decade I’ve had six kinds of chemotherapy, two stem cell transplants and a multitude of tests and scans. You name it, I’ve had it. This has all come at great expense to the NHS and the organisations that support it. Throughout all of this I’ve been making music, as some kind of therapy I suppose or maybe just a distraction when I’ve needed it. It’s possibly a bit of a cliché – but I wanted to be able to give something back. I’ve produced this new album with the idea that all proceeds will go to The Beatson Cancer Charity and Myeloma UK, organisations to which I owe a great deal.”

For Ibbotson, the intersection between design and music has always been an inspiration. His collaboration with good friend Fraser Taylor on the sleeve artwork is a fitting creative partnership.

“Fraser makes work that is so far beyond what I can do. The immediacy and energy of his mark making just felt like the perfect fit. Also the texture, rhythm and surface detail. The layers of visuals reflecting the layers of the audio. Of course there was a curatorial element to this, selecting what images to work with, then the more formal structural design elements. This is where the collaboration takes shape.

“To me it’s always felt more interesting when album artwork is a response to the music by someone who didn’t make it. Fraser is an amazing individual with a long history of great work dating back to the late 1970s. He’s an artist/designer/painter/printmaker/polymath and has been involved with some music industry icons over the years – particularly during his time with design collective The Cloth working with Wham!, Altered Images, Spandau Ballet, Aztec Camera, The Bluebells and Friends Again, to name a few.”

The records are being manufactured by Seabass Vinyl near Edinburgh (whose goal is to become the most sustainable vinyl pressing plant in the world). It will feature a 5mm spine sleeve with two printed inner sleeves pressed on coloured vinyl. A limited edition version of just 50 copies of the LP will be pressed on a special marbled vinyl and contain an editioned print by Taylor.

Ibbotson wanted to press the record as locally as possible for environmental reasons but also to draw attention to high quality manufacturing in Scotland.

Image: Gordon Burninston.

"Seabass is the first ever vinyl pressing plant in Scotland and clearly motivated by good design. They were so enthusiastic and supportive of the project when I first got in touch, that kind of enthusiasm and joy is really important with any project, especially a very personal one like this.”

What does it sound like? Electronica is a kind of catch-all term, says Ibbotson. Some tracks are a little more clubby; “Deep House was often the banner I would fall under back in the day.” There are sounds from all kinds of places woven into the textures of the tracks. The guitar and keyboards are played by Daniel himself rather than being programmed, lending an immediacy and intimacy to the music.

“While there is some kind of story to my music, or at least there are sounds, textures, words and ideas that relate to my life, I hope it also has a more universal appeal that will allow the listener to connect with it in their own way.”

Growing up, his first interest in design came from a book series of record-sleeve art called the Album Cover Album owned by his parents. For Daniel this was the starting point, both in terms of his career as a designer, but also as a musician.

“A lot of my reference points have come from the combination of music and design. Record sleeves, posters, t-shirts. My first real obsession was with the work of designer Vaughan Oliver and the work he made for the record label 4AD, home to bands like Pixies, Lush and This Mortal Coil. Although these are aesthetically quite a long way away from the work I make as a designer, they were my first real taste of what design and music could do together. Sitting on the bus on the way home from town, taking the record out of the sleeve, looking at the images, the booklets, the sleeve notes – it’s the first step of your relationship with the music, before you’ve even heard it.”

“This relationship evolved for me through gig t-shirts, like the iconic Nirvana smiley one or the Sonic Youth Goo shirt. Imagery that ended up having a life of its own way beyond its original intention. And then through to flyers and club posters and more record sleeves by designers like Peter Saville, Designers Republic, Tom Hingston or Julian House, even the more homemade – but equally (if not more) interesting stuff that Optimo were doing in Glasgow and perhaps DFA in New York.”

Finally, these reference points and inspirations have come together in the form of a physical entity.

“A record, like a book, is a beautiful object that tells a story in its own way. A record collection is an autobiography. Rather than just suggesting that people donate to these charities, I wanted to make something that people could hold and enjoy, a physical thing that had its own life.”

He’d like to sell as many copies as possible – “500 copies would generate over £10k for the charities which would be an incredible result.” Ibbotson is pre-selling the LP at Shopify as well as on Bandcamp via the site of another good friend Rory Hamilton, aka Hammer, who has his own label Remmah. The pre-sale will stay open for all of July and August with all profits going to the charities.