Internal Landscapes
For The Optimist, Anathema once again turned to artist Travis Smith to add the necessary visuals…
When it came to providing a set of visuals to accompany the physical release of The Optimist, there was only one man for the job: Travis Smith.
The California-born graphic artist made his name designing artwork for 90s metal bands such as Death and Nevermore, but he’d branched out into prog via the cover of Opeth’s 1999 album Still Life. His working relationship with Anathema began with A Fine Day To Exit, for which he designed and photographed the striking booklet.
“I’d been a fan of them forever,” he says. “I discovered them when Pentecost III came into my friends’ record store. With A Fine Day To Exit, they were looking to do something different.”
The label put Smith in contact with the band, who told him their ideas. The album’s striking cover, featuring an abandoned car and a trail of clothes leading into the sea, was shot on Silver Strand near his home in San Diego. The Optimist returned to the character at the centre of that album, and once again Smith was enlisted to add an extra visual dimension.
“Danny told me he wanted to start at the beach, and then chart a journey through the locations that told the story of The Optimist,” says Smith. “I immediately started thinking of places I knew between San Diego and California.”
Over the ensuing weeks and months, he hit the road, travelling to various towns, cities and remote locations to shoot the images that appear in The Optimist’s inlay booklet. One of the most striking images is of the original beach just before a massive thunderstorm strikes.
“I went back to the beach to shoot, but it turned out to be severely stormy,” says Smith. “It was dark, the sand was blowing everywhere. It was hard to shoot. But then I heard what they were doing with the music, and it fitted perfectly.”
Unsurprisingly, Smith laments the decline of conceptual cover art in the digital age. “Think about all those classic albums, like Dark Side Of The Moon – the artwork was integral to the album. If it visalises the story, it adds a whole new dimension to the experience.”