This was an exercise I had to do based on a fictional name that I (once again) pulled out of a hat, in which I had to design a CD cover. After brainstorming, it wasn’t long before I discovered that the statement is extremely cynical, and that its meaning distills down to false hope, or delusions. I decided to make my fictional band a psychedelic one, where anything is possible—including the existence of unicorns!
Psychedelic rock originated in the 1960s, and derived its inspiration from musicians’ attempts to recreate their experiences while under the influence of drugs. More specifically, psychedelic substances were used, which induce hallucinations, and can be said to be a form of delusion.
To pay tribute to the ‘60s drug-induced inspiration, while still keeping to the spirit of false hope, or delusions, I decided to call the group Love Dealers. However, instead of being high and deluded from drug intoxication, one experiences these same things from love, or infatuation. Therefore, while one might experience and feel certain things during intoxication, when the drug wears off, the user is left with the reality that what they were experiencing and feeling were artificial. In the same sense, when infatuated, the chemicals in people’s brains cause them to become blind to their love interest’s flaws; but when the chemical wears off, so do the blinders. Thus, to illustrate my phrase/album title, The Deceit of Hope, in a way that embodies this concept, I chose to draw a unicorn that has finally found love (hope); unfortunately, the smitten unicorn is unaware that its mate is an object from a merry-go-round (the deception).
