New Psychedelia

posted by Emily Gosling June 23, 2021

If there’s anyone who can be billed as having shaped the album cover design of the 2010s (the tens?), it’s Leif Podhajsky.

The Australian designer and artist most famously created work for Tame Impala; as well as working with the likes of Foals, The Horrors, Mount Kimbie, Bonobo, Kelis, London Grammar, Nick Mulvey, Young Magic, Bonobo and many more.

His work is characterized by swirling psychedelic leanings, drawing inspiration from psych’s 1960s origins in all its vivid colours, abstract shapes and wooziness. Now, a new book—appropriately titled New Psychedelia—is bringing all that work together in the first monograph of Podhajsky’s work.

Pg 57 (Synesthesia) – ©Leif Podhajsky, Visual Impairment, 2018

Pg 104 (Nature) – ©Leif Podhajsky, I’m In Disarray, 2019

Published by Thames & Hudson, the book is designed by Grade Design and features texts by Evie Tarr, as well as contributions from some of the musicians Podhajsky has worked with including Tame Impala’sKevin Parker, Mount Kimbie’s Kai Campos, Young Magic’s Isaac Emmanuel and Nanna Bryndís Hilmarsdóttir from Of Monsters and Men. These offer insights into the creative processes and collaborations behind each cover; while elsewhere in the book, texts discussing psychedelia, synaesthesia, digital and organic worlds and the “influence of human perception upon nature” are illustrated with original artwork.

Pg 112 (Nature) – ©Leif Podhajsky, Summer Flower, 2019

Pg 192 (Anthropocene) – ©Leif Podhajsky, Post_Nature, 2019

The publisher argues that the past decade or so has seen psychedelic culture repeat itself, “Catalyzed by international climate protests, a sense of unity in collective political disillusionment and a strong focus on the individual.” However, today the physicality of 1960s oil projections and hand-drawn type has been augmented qwuth “a new, digitally supercharged visual language.”

Podhajsky’s work has oth reflected that move and cemented it; exploring organic forms with modern, digital means and constantly interrogating the interplay of sound and visuals. The latter is partly thanks to Podhajsky’s own experiences with synaetheisa, which manifests itself as the appearance of colours with sounds.

Pg 60 (Synesthesia) – ©Leif Podhajsky, Synesthesia, 2014

Pg 108 (Nature) – ©Leif Podhajsky, Fibonacci Vortex, 2011

As well as the comprehensive array of images, behind-the-scenes stories and psychelida-themed texts in the book, at the end is a complete illustrated chronology of Podhajsky’s works to date.

Currently based in Berlin, Podhajsky grew up in Byron Bay, and has since lived in Melbourne and London. Alongside his music designs, he’s also worked with clients including Nike, Ralph Lauren and Sydney Opera House, as well as exhibiting his video installations and designs as part of the Vivid LIVE festival since 2016.