The Hum Zebra: A Look To His Cover
Something I've always felt is that no one understands the cover of You'd Prefer An Astronaut like I do. It has such a strong visual identity that I can't help but disconnect from it and think about how much it means to me.
Initially, the decision to choose a zebra for the cover was intended to create a sense of contrast against the album's bright turquoise background. While this might seem like a subtle detail on its own, it takes on a much more significant meaning within the album itself.
They chose the zebra because outside its natural habitat it feels out of place, strange, uncomfortable, as if it doesn't belong in such a bright and saturated environment. The album title comes from the song "I'd Like Your Hair Long," in which Matt Talbot describes the feeling of not being enough, of not being able to fit into that desired environment, of considering everything a waste when you don't achieve what you seek. This might seem unrelated to the cover art, but it reinforces the idea of the zebra, the idea of not belonging in the place it inhabits. "You'd Prefer an Astronaut" has a touch of pessimism; the line sounds like, "You chose me, but you'd prefer something else." It seems like a catharsis, a way of acknowledging that there are expectations placed upon you. You know that the environment demands you be different, but how can you get rid of those stripes? How can you get rid of your silhouette that stands out so much? There's no way around it, no matter how much you want it, you're still that zebra. You'll feel out of place, you'll feel small. Useless.
There's a band known to have drawn heavily from this: Deftones. They're known to have taken a lot of inspiration from that same album for their own, "White Pony." But there's something very different between the two. The message they convey differs greatly. The way they present their mascot is quite different. On their cover, the white pony seems to represent something more weighty, something more dramatic. Songs like "Change," "Knife Party," and "Pink Maggit" convey something striking, esoteric. They give the impression of being in a dream at times, and that influences the cover. It commands respect with its mere presence, and that contrasts completely with Hum's zebra, because it feels as if with the white pony, what we've been searching for has already been achieved. It blended into the environment. It reached its goal. It became a symbol more than just an animal.
We constantly see that idealized figure, and that's precisely what makes it different from Hum.
Matt Talbot, the vocalist of Hum, delivers a voice that often sounds uncertain, broken, small, almost like a conversation, and that's precisely his greatest strength: the vulnerability few dare to show, what goes on inside us. In an abstract and difficult-to-understand way, he reveals fears and desires. That's why I see the zebra in his songs. I can see its limitations, I can see its longings. I can see its stripes. At the end of the day, it resigns itself. For it, there's nothing left but to see all those stars above its head, wishing to be one of them, lost in its thoughts.
But perhaps all is not lost for her. Maybe at some point, the zebra, with her dreamy spirit, will see her reflection and realize that, in her own way, she’s beautiful too—that she doesn’t need to try to be anything else, or to know that her differences were never a problem. Without even noticing, she too is a star in the sky.
