U

Archenfield

Eric Timothy Carlson is a Brooklyn, New York, based interdisciplinary artist, designer, and educator, working with renowned musicians, publishers and cultural institutions. We spoke to Eric about immersing himself in expansive archival material to create work that intrinsically pairs audio and visual research.

Hello. Please tell us about the brief and commission.   Eric: I’ve worked with Lex Records on a number of projects in the past. My friend Andrew Broder has been with the label for years, and the first time I worked with Lex was on the soundtrack he created for Alan Moore’s feature film The Show. 

Lex has always been supportive, with a genuine interest in producing thoughtful, considered physical releases, utilising spot colours, special paper stock, etc. We were all very happy with the work we created for The Show, and that project paved the way for future collaborations.

I worked with U (the archivist, collagist and sonic curator) on some previously releases, including the Full Moon / Black Hole singles, which was printed using white ink on black paper, featuring a Union Jack centre label sticker, spinning into the void, and an array of sticker applications. I also designed the sleeve for the following EP Life Isn’t a Fountain a kind of British anarcho/activist collage of 90's video footage.

U is a prolific digger, archivist and collagist, and their music projects evolve alongside an expansive accumulation of visual material, including video, books, films, texts, and other historical documents. This research is intrinsically connected to the songs, which operate according to specific logics and conceptual reference points.

These logics can vary. Sometimes it’s about who recorded the material, sometimes it's a particular iteration of a song, or a recording anchored to a place and time. The samples are always intentional. A historical non-fiction narrative that draws from political demonstrations, or mythologies specific to geographic locations.

There was more than enough source material provided for Archenfield, and looking beyond it would have felt like a distraction. On the previous projects, U and I went down various rabbit holes, getting to know each other and immersing ourselves in the worlds of the work. At the point we started this project, there was a shared trust and intuition in how to move forward together.

How did the music inspire the creative process?
Eric: Archenfield is easily my most listened to album of 2025 and aligns perfectly with what I like to listen to when working in the studio. The artwork is intrinsically intertwined with the intent and development of the music.

The outer sleeve is a point of arrival. A God’s-eye view of the project, offering an immediate read of the art as a whole. The booklet insert provides the essential format of experiencing the art and collected information in context of each respective track.

There was no question about presenting art, text, and image in an explicitly archival, collage-led way. The aim was to do justice to the source material, and to treat it with a sense of respect. While there is image manipulation in play, much of the transformation happens through pairing and juxtaposition. If I said it out loud it'd be like, "I stir it up until it starts to sing or vibrate in a new form."

The whole process is very analogue. Digital tools are in use, of course, but the foundation is physical, from the source material, research, and textures. The amount of rich source material to draw from encouraged the creation of countless compositions while exploring what the cover could be.

A key moment came when developing an early version of the back cover, when the decorative border elements (pictured below) of the source material took on a significant presence. We were creating compositions of both the content of U's research as well as its containers. Some frame structures were lifted in whole while many are amalgamations of fragments and significant details. Making note of that recurring formal element, they became a unifying thread throughout a number of assets, played a part in finalizing the cover design, and became foundational in some of the accompanying video work as well.

What did you research when developing ideas for artwork?Eric: My research was focused within the source material provided; I needed to familiarize myself with U's research and the work he created in mind of it. I want to make informed visual decisions, and while U has a complete understanding of the work he hands over, it takes time to study the source material and become immersed in its world. This level of engagement is important in order to make fluent, intuitive decisions that support the work. I think it's fair to note that not every project demands this, but Archenfield has real stories, histories and intentions I wanted to honor and help communicate.  

The aim is to have the composed source material feel like a full, strange, but tangible story/narrative/index. I like for it to feel deceptively raw, more found than designed, or like the viewer has some responsibility in finishing the research.

Aesthetically, I draw from my own intuition and reference points, shaped through years of a personal practice and my career as an interdisciplinary artist — creating books and zines, working with archival material, studying printmaking methodologies, and an maintaining an interest in how symbols function and shift across different environments.

Please share an insight into the design development.