Fibril

Reissuing Cassette on Vinyl

Company - Debacle Records

Problem - Debacle was lucky enough to reissue Fibril’s debut release on vinyl. Already Dead Records had originally released it on cassette was graciously allowing us to reuse the assets. Problem was the cassette art would not be large or detailed enough to be used on a full 12” vinyl sleeve.

DeBacle Records

For the last twenty years I have run a small record label out of Seattle, Washington. I prefer to work with much more talented graphic designers and visual artists than myself on my releases. Sometimes though I have to step up and dust off my graphic design skills. Every once in a while I am very pleased with the results.

Fibril

Over the last 10 years Mari Maurice has emerged as a force across the underground music landscape. While a talented session player on a wealth of instruments, it is her primary projects like More Eaze and collaborations with Claire Rousey and Seth Graham that have garnered her the status of a “critical darling.”

In 2019 Mari debuted a new project on Already Dead Records. Fibril was both a departure and a familiar evolution of the “emo ambient” work she was releasing as More Eaze. When I heard the record I immediately fell in love. Eventually asking Mari to rerelease it on vinyl with Debacle Records.

Problem

While the art for the Fibril tape in it’s original form was very evocative, it would not scale with the higher fidelity of a 12” record sleeve. We needed to create something that built on and referenced the original release while we were reintroducing it to the world.

As luck would have it, Already Dead Record’s Josh Tabbia was willing to relinquish all the respective pieces of the original cassettes release to us. Without this we would have had to start at square one. I am still very thankful for this level of collaboration!

Assets Provided by Already Dead Records

Final physical release from Already Dead

Inside J-Card - One of the problems this reissue would solve was replacing Mari's deadname in the credits.

Original flower illustration, I am unsure of the provenance of this.

Ideation

Mari had some landscape photos from photographer R. Lee Dockery this in combination of the pieces Already Dead was able to provide I created a ideation sheet for Mari to take a look at. I thumbed out the various layout options I could see given our assets. I also grabbed the vibrant red from the original tape and pulled a dusty violet from Mari’s preferred photo to be our primary colors.

The concept of including all album text and information on the cover was not something I had done with Debacle. I was inspired by the cover designs from Sacred Bones around that period.

What jumped out to Mari was the "virtual obi strip" designs in row three, column two. So, I assembled the hi-fi version below. I enjoyed how it included the textures and symbols from the tape release, but I was hesitant to use it as a cover. In today's era of digital streaming, simple and iconic covers look better as small thumbnails. I was concerned that while it might look good in print, the details wouldn't translate well on Spotify or Bandcamp.

Eventually, I received more photos from Dockery and took a swing at a simplified cover image. I was much happier with this as the cover image and the above image as the back. The cover felt more evocative of the music as well. From there we were able to proceed with the rest of the pre-press process.

The original photo had a slightly orange and dull color. I adjusted it to match the previous photo and color scheme.

Final

I really like how this album cover looks; it lovingly nods to the original design while being unique. A final touch was making the spine a solid red, which helps the record stand out on shelves, unlike a photo background that would appear too dark. It looked so good I have employed this technique many times since.

Stream the record here!