Thursday, February 28, 2008

LEEF art

Ladies and gentlemen, I give you the cover of LEEF:



The art on this mofo was expertly executed by Alan Kahler (whose design is even more impressive when you consider that I was operating under pretty severe budget constraints). I would highly recommend Alan for any art project ya got.

"LEEF," by the way (I may as well explain it now) is an intentional mis-appropriation of one conjugation of the Dutch word for the verb "to live" (as in "I live," or simply a command: "live!"). Of course, since this is mostly a concert recording, I'm using "LEEF" as a way to play with the American word "live," referring to a performance in front of an audience (apparently this word doesn't translate very well into Dutch). Why embrace this linguistic slippage? I guess I liked the extra dimension that the (proper) Dutch usage brought -- cuz this album has basically been my life (though not my living) for almost two years now.

To complicate things even further, the Dutch word is actually pronounced "layf" -- though the picture of a leaf on the cover is meant to suggest the "long e" pronunciation.

Confused? Consider Läther as an inspiration.

(I must thank Steve Munley for helping me to understand some of these nuances of the Dutch language, by the way.)

What else? According to one urban dictionary, "leef" also refers to "excellence" (in American slang).

Oh, yeah, and there is also the Chaucerian word "lief," which, if I'm remembering correctly, can refer to "beloved," "dear," or "willing." (Too tired to link it right now.)

Why all caps? I dunno, I think it looks cool.

Take your meanings where you will.

5 comments:

The Rural Wanderer said...

My pleasure. :-) I'm glad those years in Amsterdam are paying off for somebody. :-)

-- SFM

Anonymous said...

Also it's "feel" spelled backwards. And an anagram for "flee." Which is a homonym for a small bloodsucking insect. Which is in turn a homonym for the correct spelling of "leaf." Make of this what you will. Now it's time for me to make like a trea.

D0nnaTr0y said...

Leef=live(=jazz)=flee=bloodsucking insect? Sounds about right!

Cover looks great and I love all play on words, so Kudos!

matt said...

Cover looks awesome--great timeless image.

Andrew Durkin said...

Hey, thanks, everybody!

I'm sure there's a Leif Ericson connection too, I just haven't figured it out yet...