Interview with Jan Yrlund (Cover Art Creator for The 13th Floor)

1. Who is Jan Örkki Yrlund and what does he do?

A Finnish graphic artist / musician. As a profession I have an Art Historian degree (Master Of Arts), but I’ve been producing art myself as long as I remember. My company Darkgrove creates CD covers, Websites and such mainly for the music industry worldwide.

2. When did you start designing?

I started as a comic artist in the mid 80′s, used to run a comic magazine with my friends back then. The first LP/CD cover I did together with my friend was the first album of my old band Prestige in 1989. Through the years I did art mainly for my own bands, but I kept on doing comics, murals etc. In 1997 I started doing CD booklets semiprofessionally and since about 2003 I do it through my company and it’s my full occupation at the moment.

3. Who are your biggest inspirations or favorite artists?

Aah, there are so many. Classics like Riggs, Kelly, but even more comic artists like Manara, Bilal, Moebius etc. I still dig those a lot.

4. You did Sirenia’s “The 13th Floor” album cover. Have you ever worked with them before?

Yes I did that cover and the booklet. I have never worked with them before but of course I knew the band. I’ve always liked what Morten does, cool stuff.

5. Why did Sirenia chose you?

No idea how it came. I think through Nuclear Blast probably, since I’ve done quite a few album covers for Nuclear Blast, so they probably suggested me to Morten.

6. What’s the meaning behind the album cover and its drawings?

It is directly a reference to the album title and the feeling of the “13th floor” that is a less cool place to hang out. As you can imagine, the number 13 refers to many misfortunate things

7. It was Sirenia’s idea or were you given creativity freedom?

The description came from Sirenia, but the concept I figured out, the girl, composition, color etc. In fact I went to take a photoshoot on a location here in the city to find exactly the right kind of staircase that I wanted to use for the cover. I searched through many buildings to get the exact cool one. So I went pretty far to get it right.

8. Did you have different versions of the cover you can talk about?

No, not really. It was this picture from the start. I think we had a few different color versions, more reddish etc. Also the girl was blindfolded in one I remember, but this one we chose was nicer.

9. Did you decide not to use Ailyn’s face on the girl or was it Sirenia’s choice?

Never actually thought of that, so it wasn’t a concious choice. On the other hand I think it should be an anonyme person, since the girl is to me not the main focus there, but the “floor” she enters. If using Ailyn I think the figure would have taken all the attention hehehe.

10. What was your reaction seeing Ailyn with a bride dress in the video? (it was totally unnintentional by her part)

Oh cool, I liked the clip. Nicely done, nice song & vocals.

11. Will you work with Sirenia in their next album’s cover?

If it’s up to me of course, it was a great co-operation and it was very cool to work with them. So I hope so, but that decision is not in my hands I’m afraid – they choose what they seem to fit. But it would be cool

12. What are your future plans?

Work work work and work. So many things to do and so little time. Hope to get back to writing some music aswel, missing that so gotta get going on that front aswel.

Thanks a lot for the interview & greetings from up North.

Visit www.darkgrove.net to check out Dargrove Design’s great work.