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A blue square cover with the heading “CATALONIA 1993/1994” above a strip of two dark images and a yellow text panel.

400 × 397 px · JPEG · The full frame
Sain (Recordiau) Cyf. · CC BY-SA 3.0

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MUSIC ARTWORK / SAIN

1993 / 1994

Catatonia

Album artwork for Catatonia, provided through the SAIN Records collection on Wikimedia Commons.

A CLOSER LOOK / 01

Inside the image.

A square cover with a broad, uninterrupted field of dark, muted blue. Across the middle runs a horizontal strip divided into three adjoining panels: two picture panels on the left and a larger yellow panel on the right. The strip leaves substantial blue space above and below, with no outer frame.

The heading “CATALONIA 1993/1994” sits across the blue area just above the strip. It is set in tall, narrow, white capitals and numerals, centred horizontally; its lower edge nearly meets the top of the images. The lettering is spaced out, and the slash between the years is clearly visible.

The left picture panel is a dim, brown-toned image of a pale, unclothed child-like figure seated with knees bent, against a larger shadowy form with feathered, wing-like shapes. The image has a soft, aged-looking palette, with the figure’s pale skin standing out against the dark browns. The central panel shows a fantastical mechanical construction against a dark background: a rounded, pinkish-brown head or body with a prominent circular eye-like feature is surrounded by small metal-looking wheels, rods and other fittings. A larger curved, segmented form extends beneath it. The panel is busy and densely detailed, in contrast with the comparatively simple left image.

The right panel is a flat, warm yellow rectangle. Near its lower edge is a single line of small black lettering, too small to read confidently. The three panels meet edge to edge, while their contrasting treatments—shadowy figurative imagery, a dark mechanical scene and a plain yellow field—give the strip a distinctly assembled appearance. The image has no visible decorative border.

ASSOCIATIONS & IMPRESSIONS / 02

What the image evokes.

The broad blue field makes the central strip feel like a set of fragments laid out for inspection. The title hangs between open space and imagery, its thin, elongated letters lending the composition a restrained, almost archival quality. The strip, by comparison, feels crowded with distinct visual worlds.

The left panel has the solemn stillness of a dim old painting or a sculptural tableau. Its child-like figure and winged shadow may suggest devotional imagery, though the dark, indistinct form leaves the scene unresolved. Beside it, the central construction seems to belong to a different register: part toy, part machine, part creature. Its rounded forms and exposed fittings give it an awkward, animated presence, as if it might twitch into motion. The yellow panel interrupts both images with a bright, quiet block. It can read as a label or a patch of light, but its small inscription keeps it tied to the strip.

Together, the panels create an uneasy balance between the intimate and the mechanical, the antique and the fantastical, the depicted and the plainly graphic. The surrounding blue holds those contrasts at a distance, like a calm frame around a strange collection of images.

Associations are subjective readings, rather than documented influences or statements of the artist’s intention.

TAKE THE WORDS WITH YOU

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These visual notes are offered under CC BY 4.0. Credit dbcovers, link to the source, keep the licence information and indicate any changes.

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Lettering & observation notes
  • CATALONIA 1993/1994 — Centred near the top of the image strip, in the blue area.
  • The small black inscription near the bottom of the yellow panel is not legible enough to transcribe confidently.
  • The subjects in the two picture panels are described by appearance; their identities are unclear.
BACK TO THE SOURCE / 03

Artwork sources & licence.

CC BY-SA 3.0 ↗

Credit the author and source, link to the licence and indicate any changes. Share adaptations under compatible terms. Read the full licence for details.

Source year
1998
Source author field
Sain (Records) Ltd
Attribution
Sain (Recordiau) Cyf.
Collection
SAIN / Wikimedia Commons
Catalogue number
CRAI CD064
Source
Wikimedia Commons file page ↗
Permission evidence
Public VRT notice: 2017050910011681
Source checked
20 October 2026

Year as recorded on the source file page; it may not represent the work’s first release. File unchanged; browser preview scaled proportionally.