Arty Album Art: Mono - Walking Cloud And Deep Red Sky, Flag Fluttered And The Sun Shined

Visual Concept: Takaakira "Taka" Goto
Art Work: Esteban Rey
Design Work: Naoya Hayasaka (Seagull ^TM)

Some albums love to flaunt the fact that they have a 32-page full colour, 43,502-photo booklet included in the CD packaging which supposedly gives you more reason to buy the physical album. Which is like saying the next Spielberg movie will have 10 chimpanzees rampaging through Bombay, or the new McDonalds burger has 0.36% less saturated fats in its beef patties.

So when you get an album that shuns the clunky sleeve stuffing in favour of a few meagre squares, you gotta nod along. And so consider Mono's inlay offering:

A few squares? What's the biggie, Squiggie? Well, one of the aforementioned squares is a single piece of red origami paper, while the other contains instructions on how to fold a crane. The concept is based on the Japanese legend that anyone who folds a thousand cranes will be granted a wish by a crane, which is meant to be a symbol of peace.

So anyways, that legend got me thinking: if I fold a thousand cranes, and then a crane comes and grants me a wish... aha! Inspired by the legend, I got down to folding. And, behold my masterpiece:

Yes, young sumosan. I totally expect Mushu at my doorstep tomorrow, answering my wish to provide me with a lifetime's supply of Smint. By the way, folding stuff like that is way peasy to me. You should see my origami sabre tooth tigers. Golly, it's tough being a prodigy.

Mono - A Thousand Paper Cranes (from Walking Cloud And Deep Red Sky, Flag Fluttered And The Sun Shined) [BUY]