John Butler Trio - Album Cover

There is an essence of smoke that surrounds john butlers face. The smoke could represent a number of things, for example in could represent the consumption of drugs such as cannabis. Cannabis consumption is often is stereotyped as hippies which is a social group/culture that are well known for dreadlocks, colourful clothing,drug use and peace making. This could represent the style of John Butler Trios album.
John butler appears to be wearing a hat that look like those of tribal leaders which gives a historical and spiritual feel to the artwork. This could be reflected by the power and culture of the music. The position of his face also reinforces this representation because it appears like it would do if it was on a totem pole. There are splotches of red on the album cover which could represent violence/war and this again could ironically reflect back to the hippie culture where peace is of great importance. This is reinforced by the guns coming out of John Butlers head at either side, creating a realisation to the viewer his opinion on war and violence. There is a butterfly towards the bottom of the artwork which connotes thoughts again of peace which seem to be a continuing theme throughout the artwork. The butterfly also could represent being close to nature, again reinforcing the idea of hippiness. The text is very simple, but effective in bold font and colours that stand out on the background. The black background is effective because it is neutral and calm, focusing the viewers attention on the artwork.