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The story behind the album artwork and title: "The Rise And Fall Of The Songwriter"


"The Rise and Fall of The Songwriter" is the third full length album from The Fluffy Jackets, released in 2024. This is the story behind the album artwork and title.

My wife is somewhat a fan of the Arts and she like paintings. One of her previous pastime activities involved getting out brushes to create various paintings, mostly conceptual paintings inspired by nature - using different acrylic or oil-based paints. One day in 2011, she asked if I wanted to join her at the family cabin in Sotra outside Bergen to make some paintings. That sounded like a fun activity to me, and I ended up painting this:


You are looking at a painting called "The rise and fall of the songwriter", created by Helge Rognstad on 12 June 2011. The painting was made during a trip to Sotra outside Bergen.

Painted with The Fluffy Jackets in mind
Right from the start, I began painting something that I thought could eventually be used for The Fluffy Jackets. If you look closely, you'll see nods to the band in two places on the painting: the word "FLUFFY" in yellow at the top left, and the word "JACKETS" in red at the top right. Additionally, the cowboy in the painting has the initials "FJ" painted on his jacket, a direct reference to Fluffy Jackets.

What's more, you'll notice that all the colors in this painting are warm tones, reminiscent of a fireplace: yellow, red, orange, brown, and deep black. I chose these colors deliberately to complement the official brand colors used on this webpage, which is the orange HEX color (#FF7D01) / equivalent RGB color (255-125-1) - these are the official brand colors.

Background: why did I choose that title?
During the painting process, I initially drew inspiration from classic Spaghetti Western films, like those directed by Sergio Leone. You know, titles like "A Fistful of Dollars" or "The Good, The Bad and The Ugly." So, with this tough cowboy holding a gun in mind and staying true to the musical theme, I settled on calling the painting "The Rise and Fall of the Songwriter."

Interestingly, I had actually written a song with the same title at the time, as I was working on our debut album "Fighting Demons" (released 2014). However, I felt the demo wasn't quite strong enough for that record, so I shelved it. I revisited the idea for our third album with new lyrics, but unfortunately, I encountered the same problem again. So, we didn't end up with a song by that name but I always liked the title.


The back of painting confirms that date of the painting as well as the painter. The painting is made using acrylic paint on a white canvas and measures approx. 20cm (height) x 40cm (wide).

How The Fluffy Jackets' third album got the title: "The Rise And Fall of The Songwriter" (2024)


In 2020-21, amidst the Covid-19 pandemic lockdown, I began working on music for a new album. Despite the challenges of the pandemic, I managed to construct The Fluffy Jackets Sound Studio, which has been somewhat of a lifetime ambition of mine. A space where I can be creative and record new music. However, musicians could not come to me to record here, nor could I travel anywhere else to record. So it was difficult to be creative. Consequently, the working title for The Fluffy Jackets' third album became "Come Hell Or High Water," loosely inspired by an interview I read with the LA-based musician Jade Castrinos' where she said that she would continue making music whatever obstacles came in her way; "come hell or high water".

However, as I was progressing with the creative work of writing songs during the Covid lock-downs, I had to work in isolation. When it came to making the music, I had to do everything myself, whether it was writing songs, engineering, recording guitars, bass, programming drums, playing keyboard or mixing. So gradually it downed on me that it would be appropriate to use this painting as the album cover - because like the music and the studio itself - it is produced at home and by myself. That is why we decided to name the third album after this painting, titled "The Rise And Fall Of The Songwriter."

The album title gained deeper resonance when I considered the room where the painting was created. It was the same space where my friend Manny Charlton (may he rest in peace) and I had collaborated on the pre-production for "Something from Nothing" (2019), our final album together. Thus, the title also pays homage to Manny and reflects on the fact that I had to step up with the songwriting because I didn't have him around anymore. This is an apt reference, as several tracks were recorded as a tribute to him like "Goodbye" and "The Well Is Dry."

This was the story behind the album artwork and title. I hope you enjoy listening to it as much as I enjoyed putting it together. And if you want to know more about how each song came to be, I'll be adding more info about that on this webpage soon.

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