Funke and the Two Tone Baby: Reacclimate

I’ve been a huge music fan since I was a little kid going through my parents’ eclectic record collection. I always loved that process of spending my pocket money on an album, sticking it in my stereo and going through the album artwork and lyrics, trying to make sense of it all. So when my good friend and collaborator Dan Turnbull (AKA ‘Funke and the Two Tone Baby’), asked me to help create his new album cover, I was incredibly excited to be involved.

The name ‘Reacclimate’ represents a reintroduction to normality after a period of loss/grief, as well as the disconnect we all experienced during the pandemic. I won’t go into detail, as it’s not my place, but Dan had been through a lot in the years prior to writing this album, and (as far as I understand it) this was a letter to himself that it was time to step back into the light.

Dan came to me with the yellow/blue concept and some initial sketches, and we developed it together from there using pre-vis software. It’s a pretty simple concept really - the yellow signifying positivity, light and normality and the blue suggesting negativity, darkness and solitude. The balloon held out at arms length represents a bridge, or a stepping stone between these two states of mind.

With m’colleague Nick Payne behind the (Nikon Z6) camera, I directed and lit the talent (who were friends and fans of the artist), shooting them individually on a yellow backdrop, before tweaking the raws in Adobe Lightroom and compositing it all together in Photoshop.   We also shot several stills for the album release campaign and tour.   

I’m really happy with the result, especially given I’ve never done anything like this before - I’m a stranger to print. Dan is a hugely talented artist and I’m proud to have watched his sound evolve over the years. ‘Reacclimate’ is available on CD, Vinyl and online to stream and download. You can also see my bonkers music video for track ‘Shake It Up’ from the album, here.   

Shot at the awesome Courtyard Studios, Hollingbourne, Kent.