Vying for position in most published year-end lists of 2015’s best albums is likely to be ‘The Race For Space’, the second album from the mysterious London-based duo Public Service Broadcasting.

As they did on their 2013 debut, ‘Entertain Inform Educate’, they skilfully marry snippets of sampled dialogue to swirls of synth, tape loop, guitar and even banjo, fleshing out their sound with some solid, propulsive drumming.

Their approach is self-consciously gimmicky but they have a pleasingly unique sound that often exudes a mischievous air of playfulness. They’re more of a smartarse musical boffin (J. Willgoose Esq.) with drumming accomplice (Wrigglesworth) than an actual ‘band’, foregoing the need for a vocalist by utilising bold, attention-grabbing statements lifted from stuffy governmental propaganda films, olden-days infomercials and the like.

‘The Race For Space’ was released in February and is themed around the Cold War-era fight for astronautical supremacy. There’s plenty of pertinent pontification and presidential propagandizing upholding the hip-again space theme but probably the most remarkable thing about the album is the sleeve artwork; a striking thing of beauty that eschews convention by having no official front or back cover.

Striving for impartiality, PSB instead let you choose between a US side or a Soviet side by simply flipping the sleeve over, so the slot housing the record still remains on the right-hand side… Pretty neat, huh?

The clever chap behind this novel and rather lovely artwork is Leeds-based designer Graham Pilling, who under his studio name of Army Of Cats has been producing some delightfully distinctive work of late.

I had a chat with Graham recently about how he came to be a graphic artist…

“I was always into doodling as a kid. I can remember drawing Star Wars pictures; an X-Wing attacking a Tie Fighter, so I was doing space stuff even back then!”
“I was really into comics and although I dabbled with the idea of being a comic artist, I struggled with drawing the same character over and over again. I started comics but never had the patience to finish them. I liked a fast return with my work: ‘right, that one’s finished’ and on to the next thing.”

Graham’s early influences would include Quentin Blake’s illustrations for Roald Dahl’s books and LS Lowry. “We had Lowry prints at home and I did a Lowry project at high school. He must’ve been an influence, as some of the work I’ve produced for I Am Kloot and Black Keys feature industrial buildings and chimneys.”

Graham’s had an unorthodox career trajectory but has always been rather enterprising; “My first paid work was drawing Garbage Pail Kids at school for 5pence a go and then later teachers ‘hired me’ for the then-princely sum of £20 to redraw logos on posters for school trips.”

“I studied art in college but dropped out because I didn’t want to learn about stuff I didn’t think was relevant to me at the time. I hated art history, which is a shame as I find it really interesting now. I was immature and cocky but strong-minded, just wanting to be creative and do my own thing.”

Graham’s creative impulses soon led him to leave his Huddersfield homestead for comparatively more creative climes.

“Instead of pursuing any sort of art career, I came to Leeds and got involved in the punk/independent music scene that was growing at the time. I spent a few years playing in bands and helping to run a small record label with my house-mates. We’d put on gigs, produce fanzines, and self-press records; it was a really creative scene. I ended up being the in-house ‘drawer’ and soon people were saying; ‘you’re the guy who does the posters… Can you do one for our band?’. So I was already freelancing.”

“I continued to get interest in my work and that spurred me on to try and improve my skills and look into how I could do it professionally. At first, you’re nervous, you doubt yourself and it feels weird charging someone, but you persevere and your experience builds from there. Obviously I’ve been doing this a few years now but I still remember my early clients, and trying not to let on how new I was to it all.”

So, how did you get the Public Service Broadcasting gig and what were they like to work with?

“They saw my poster for Of Monsters & Men which featured a little character lost in a vast snowy landscape. The figure is really tiny and that struck a chord with them, as one of the themes of their new record is the loneliness and vastness of space.

“Initially I put together a mood board of found images to show I had an understanding of the visuals they were going for. Then I created some rough sketches to show a few different ways of approaching the two-sided cover idea. They picked the ones they liked and I worked on developing the sketches into the final pieces of artwork.”

“The two-sided motif was their idea but they really welcomed my thoughts on how to ensure both sides of the sleeve depicted a celebratory breakthrough or victory. They didn’t want it to be taken out of context, like it was a dark Cold War rivalry or anti-Russian or anything”.

Some of the initial sketches Graham submitted early on in the project.

There are more details of how these ideas developed on Army Of Cats’ blog and since receiving an approving ‘thumbs-up’ for the sleeve artwork, those Public Service Broadcasters have commissioned Graham to produce further works of art for use on screenprinted posters promoting the current UK tour and also the album’s february launch, held, appropriately enough, at the National Space Centre in Leicester.

An up-close, front row fan’s video of that Space Centre show can be seen here… while the poster advertising it is pictured below, along with and a short videoing Graham produced outlining the process behind its creation…

Graham continues: “I also redesigned their logo to tie-in thematically with the record and created the artwork in the inner gatefold of the vinyl. They’ve been great to work with. Really professional but also friendly and keen for me to feel involved in the project. Which is nice, as not all client-designer relationships run as smoothly as that.”

Not all offers of work are pursued to completion either, even when the 30 million-sellers get in touch…

“I got approached by the management of a really huge, Grammy award-winning artist. They wanted a poster designing for a sold-out London gig. They were throwing buzzwords at me that didn’t translate into anything visual and showed me some pieces made by other artists that were examples of what they didn’t want. I was thinking; ‘old soul records, blocking, two-tones’, did a few little sketches and even referenced imagery that occurs in the artist’s music videos”.

“They didn’t like anything but couldn’t say why, or what they actually wanted. In the end,  I just phoned them and ended the relationship, saying; ‘I don’t understand what it is you want me to deliver.’”

“I’ve been very lucky as I’ve never had to advertise, just always had referrals from happy clients. A huge proportion of it is I’m reliable. I realised early on, whatever freelance work you do, your client doesn’t have to think ‘this is the best possible thing that can be made for me’. They want the best experience. If the work is good enough and the experience of dealing with you was satisfying and you answer all their questions, they’re happy. It’s 40% finished product & 60% how you deal with people.”

“As with hiring a mechanic, you don’t know the ins and outs, you just want it done. Nobody would say; ‘he’s a good graphic designer, his composition and colour theory is excellent’ because they don’t know about that stuff. That’s why they hired you.”

“You sell the relationship, you make sure they’re involved in it and have ownership of it. You help your client understand the criteria that makes a project successful so that when you show them something that works, they can see that it does for themselves. I continue to get work because of good client management, making sure that THEY are happy with the work, not just me.”

In other words, and as illustrated by this beautifully decorative print he made (below):

WORK HARD AND BE HUMBLE.

Looking ahead, Graham and his one-man Army Of Cats would like to find more time alongside client-based projects to work on more general but still wonderfully eye-catching prints that reflect his varied personal interests.

“I’m a little obsessed with mountain and fell running. I’m working on producing prints of the mountains and landscapes where I run, to try and express how I feel when I’m out doing that. In the past I’ve never really referred to myself as an artist but I finally feel like I have something personal to convey, so the word ‘artist’ is growing on me and I’m excited about exploring a new direction and seeing what comes out of it.”

Public Service Broadcasting are currently on tour and these screenprinted tourposters, all individually hand-signed and numbered, are available to purchase as a treasured, hugely attractive memento…