This is a magazine advertisement for the debut full-length from Brighton Hardcore / Punk band Dead Swans. It appeared in August 2009's edition of Rocksound magazine, renowned for it's coverage of a wide variety of musical genres falling vaguely beneath the 'Rock' title.
It is worthwhile to not first that the advertisement appeared on a page funded by the label on which the band released the record, therefore appeared alongside a number of different advertisements for other records the label was releasing. This could potentially effect the way in which the advertisement is composed, and the effect is has in succeeding to stand out to the audience, however as they are a relatively small, underground band on the scene, any form of advertisement would be seen as incredibly beneficial for them. Their small scale status takes obvious effect of the construction of the advert, as they would not likely be able to afford a large, mass produced advertisement that a more mainstream band may, for example. For this reason, the advert itself only takes up just under half of the A4 page, which is fairly typical for a smaller band on a tight budget.
To make the most of the provided space, the majority of the advert is dominated by a large image of the album cover. This complies with the conventions of simplicity that the low-key bands of the hardcore genre usually adopt to market their music - in high contrast to the sound and atmosphere of the music they create.
The cover itself consists simply of a black and white image of a mid-shot of a man from behind, dressed in conventional clothing for this sort of genre that would strike a chord of familiarity in the intended 'alternative' styled target audience. The use of this image shows a link with the album title, perhaps suggesting that the man in the image of sleepwalking into the midst of the grey ahead of him. The fact that we cannot see his face, and therefore establish any form of connection with the character makes for a sort of enigma, adding mystery to the narrative behind the cover, making you wonder as to his significance and perhaps even his destination. This use of mystery is a fairly conventional feature though this genre, where the focus tends to revolve more around the music as opposed to the star image of the artist. This also relates to the intended target audience, as this genre of music is often received for the purpose of entertainment or escapism. It would perhaps also work to create a sense of identity and belonging for the recipient, as is often a common underlying theme for the more alternative genre.
The image itself only takes up a small amount of space, positioned in the centre of the advert towards the bottom half of the frame. The excessive space surrounding the image that consumes the rest of the frame serves to emphasise the image, and perhaps imply connotations of isolation and reclusion, both of which are fairly conventional topics within this kind of genre. The image is taken from a high angle, looking down upon the man, which creates the representation that he is perhaps slightly vulnerable and powerless.
The bands name is printed in large white capital letters, in the top centre of the cover. One line per words accentuates the name, making it seem large and attention demanding. The white of the typeface contrasts from the blander grey tones of the background. The name of the album is written directly below in a conventional handwritten style. Many punk bands adopt this format for their text based products as it serves to fit their basic, raw, anarchist image and style in parallel to the sound that they create through their music. Additionally, by including a large image of the album artwork that contains this typographic information already means that there is no need to waste space by repeating it on the advert, meaning the remaining space can be put to more effective use.
In relation to institutional information, across the bottom of the album cover, a small grey strip has been added for the purpose of this advertisement, listing details and information concerning the release. This includes the formats in which it will be available - CD and LP, where - in stores, and the date of which it will become available - August 10th. This means that could the advert have succeded in the selling of the product, or even if it had just made a fan, already familiar with the band, aware of the impending release, they would know how and where to obtain is as they so desired.
To the right hand side for the album image, a smaller image of the band captured live is used, perhaps to promote them as more of an all round package - this image is a shot from a particularly highly energetic live performance, which may appeal to the audience who wold enjoy attending smaller, high energy punk and hardcore gigs. Additionally, this image is used as the cover of a 7" limited edition EP that the band were due to release shortly after this advertisement was published. This serves as a dual advertisement, making the audience aware of upcoming releases from the same artist, should they have succeeded in being interested by the initial product advertised.
Finally, the advert uses a review quote to support it's selling strategy. This is fairly conventional for any advertisement, as a good review from a trusted source, such as a music magazine the audience would respect the opinion of could only be beneficial in the marketing process of the product, as it encourages or intrigues the audience into giving it a listen, perhaps in order to deduce whether or not the high rating was deserved, or to experiment with new music, based on the highest reviewed and respected offerings.
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