Charlotte is an illustrator and comic artist based in Bridport, Dorset, England.
Hiya Charlotte. Can you tell us a little bit about your tape and your song selections?
This mixtape is about being entirely untethered from the world you know, cast adrift on a downwards spiral.
In the wake of grief, I developed a kind of OCD characterised by a fear of life and death, of the universe, of what’s real and what’s not. OCD isn’t well understood in popular culture, and it took many years bouncing between NHS departments to realise what I had! I put this playlist together to try and iron out what was going on in my head at the time, and to extend a hand out to anyone else going through anything similar.
I’m keeping it real (ha!) with some classic bangers mixed in with strange ambient pop, and it ends on an hopeful note.
What direction did you take with your cover art, and what was your process?
I knew what I wanted to do pretty straight off the bat - I’d been experimenting with similar colours and compositions around this topic for a while and I thought that this would be a good reason to finally make that piece! The rough I submitted was a bit, well, rough, and I tried to take it further in the final. The cover is a lot more vapourwave-esque than my original vision (and might end up falsely advertisin the genres in this mix, haha!) but I think it suits the theme.
So Long, See You Tomorrow – Bombay Bicycle Club
2014, Island Records / Mmm...Records
Design: La Boca
Old Wow – Sam Lee
2020, Cooking Vinyl
Artwork: Alex Merry
In the same vein of old styles modernised, Sam Lee’s Old Wow cover really works nicely - it’s a take on Regency-looking illustration, with the background full of meadows teeming with wildlife - appropriate for an album that’s a sort of musical discussio around the romanticisation of our pastoral past.
What did you listen to growing up?
Music was important in our house, and 90s classics like REM, Massive Attack, The Prodigy were definitely played a lot. To this day, I’m a lover of dad music: the 60s/70s bands like Led Zeppelin, Cream, The Jimi Hendrix Experience, and The Who all featured big while I was growing up. Neil Young’s “Old Man” is a big comfort track that immediately brings me back to my childhood home in 2005.
Albums that were instrumental for me were Kate Bush’s Hounds of Love, Pearl Jam’s Ten, and Pink Floyd’s Delicate Sound of Thunder. Increasingly I’m finding I love whatever my mum used to stick on.
And what’s on heavy rotation for you at the moment?
I’m currently in a (very long) goth rock phase - I’ve been really into Fields of the Nephilim’s Elizium album, plus some classics from The Sisters of Mercy and The Mission. To completely clash with that, right now I’m listening to a lot of Northern Soul (thanks mum) which works as a pretty good antidote the former!
What’s happening in your creative world at the moment?
I’m currently trying to put my pitch together for my graphic novel, which I originally published as a webcomic called SARGENTUM. (https://tapas.io/series/SARGENTUM). It’s about a boy who makes an ill-fated deal with a witch, and draws heavily from British folklore. I’m currently working on a fresh way to tell the story for publication, because I started it a VERY long time ago and I’d love to do it justice now!
My freelance work includes LUNAR, written by Chris Bradford and illustrated by me, which came out this October, and I’m looking forward to working on the sequels. I also produced a short comic for the post apocalyptic anthology ON SHOT: After the End, which should be in print soon - exciting!
Where can we find you?
charlottegrangeart.co.uk
instagram.com/popsiclestickle
Thanks Charlotte 👋🏽
TRACKLIST
a-ha - The Sun Always Shines on T.V. / Arcade Fire - It's Never Over (Hey Orpheus) / London Grammar - Lose Your Head / Foals - Fugue / San Fermin - Oceanica / The Chemical Brothers - Let Forever Be / Lorde - Buzzcut Season / White Lies - Death / Siouxsie and the Banshees - Dear Prudence / James - Born Of Frustration / M83 - Moonchild / Arcade Fire - Supersymmetry / Pink Floyd - Eclipse / Bombay Bicycle Club - Get Up / Florence + The Machine - Girls Against God ︎
Albums that were instrumental for me were Kate Bush’s Hounds of Love, Pearl Jam’s Ten, and Pink Floyd’s Delicate Sound of Thunder. Increasingly I’m finding I love whatever my mum used to stick on.
And what’s on heavy rotation for you at the moment?
I’m currently in a (very long) goth rock phase - I’ve been really into Fields of the Nephilim’s Elizium album, plus some classics from The Sisters of Mercy and The Mission. To completely clash with that, right now I’m listening to a lot of Northern Soul (thanks mum) which works as a pretty good antidote the former!
What’s happening in your creative world at the moment?
I’m currently trying to put my pitch together for my graphic novel, which I originally published as a webcomic called SARGENTUM. (https://tapas.io/series/SARGENTUM). It’s about a boy who makes an ill-fated deal with a witch, and draws heavily from British folklore. I’m currently working on a fresh way to tell the story for publication, because I started it a VERY long time ago and I’d love to do it justice now!
My freelance work includes LUNAR, written by Chris Bradford and illustrated by me, which came out this October, and I’m looking forward to working on the sequels. I also produced a short comic for the post apocalyptic anthology ON SHOT: After the End, which should be in print soon - exciting!
charlottegrangeart.co.uk
instagram.com/popsiclestickle
Thanks Charlotte 👋🏽
TRACKLIST
a-ha - The Sun Always Shines on T.V. / Arcade Fire - It's Never Over (Hey Orpheus) / London Grammar - Lose Your Head / Foals - Fugue / San Fermin - Oceanica / The Chemical Brothers - Let Forever Be / Lorde - Buzzcut Season / White Lies - Death / Siouxsie and the Banshees - Dear Prudence / James - Born Of Frustration / M83 - Moonchild / Arcade Fire - Supersymmetry / Pink Floyd - Eclipse / Bombay Bicycle Club - Get Up / Florence + The Machine - Girls Against God ︎