Fay is an illustrator from Coventry, currently based in Cornwall.

Hi Fay. Can you tell us a little bit about your tape and your song selections?

I made this tape about transformation, it could be seeing a change that has already happened or realising that you need to change something.

The songs I chose are about times when you are re-evaluating your life and seeing it from a new perspective. Some of the songs are quiet and contemplative, while others are more motivating.

It's called Breakthrough because it represents being stuck somehow and not seeing what the solution is, and then finding a way to overcome that. I wanted the mood of the playlist to change from the start to the end, so it starts off with more of a feeling of being stuck or uninspired and it becomes more hopeful and uplifting by the end.

What direction did you take with your cover art, and what was your process?

I had a really different idea to begin with but when I was choosing the music, I started thinking about the imagery and atmosphere in the songs and I decided I wanted the cover to show that somehow. So I wrote down a list of images and themes in the songs and I made some sketches of them. Some of the symbols are mentioned in the song lyrics and are more literal like the plane, and others represent themes in the songs. I wanted to suggest the feeling of time passing with the match burning and the plane leaving smoke trails.

A lot of the songs I included have this momentum where it feels like time is speeding up or slowing down. I like how the circle arrangement suggests time moving in a loop, instead of a clear beginning and end, just different phases passing in a cycle. To me the eye at the centre makes it seem like the symbols represent memories or different possibilities.

What are your fave album covers, records with a great music and artwork combo, or musical projects with a visual component?

I really love the messiness and energy of punk posters and cover designs, they always seem hand drawn and like someone made them quickly without thinking about it too much. I like that quality in design because it has an immediacy and power. I like how these designs use bright and clashing colours a lot, it can be eye-catching and almost ugly at the same time. And I love how bold and varied the lettering of these designs is too.

A newer cover design I really like is for Caroline Polachek's album Pang. The art and typography seems like it is from a long time ago and futuristic at the same time. All of her music videos and covers have the same style and it feels really otherworldly. The atmosphere of the images is mysterious and beautiful, and I think it looks exactly how the music sounds.