| Wherefore thank God for Lawrence, a guy from Germany whose self-titled album has one of the most magnificently cryptic sleeves of all time. The front cover: grey-and-white blurry figures that might be buildings in fog or touched-up X-rays of something. No way of knowing, really. The word “Lawrence” unobtrusively superimposed in white (on grey! Jesus!) from left to right about two-thirds of the way down the field of view. The thirteen panels that remain of the booklet? Well, they’re all in black and white, too, and they’re all equally indistinct. Random images of nothing in particular, they refuse to communicate, making it clear all the while that they do in fact have a bead on just what this whole communication game is all about: it’s just that they don’t feel like playing. |