Mamman Sani & Tropikal Camel – Nijerusalem album art

Nijerusalem is a collaboration between Nigerien synth pioneer Mamman Sani and Berlin-based electronic artist Tropikal Camel, released on vinyl and in digital format by Batov Records, London. From the Bandcamp page:

This album is the result of a serendipitous meeting at the Nyege Nyege Festival in Uganda. Both artists shared a residency and studio space, which led to long recording sessions together over the course of two weeks, capturing the organic fusion of Mamman’s synth melodies and Tropikal Camel’s percussive electronic beats. Despite their divergent backgrounds and ages, Mamman at 73 and Tropikal Camel at 44, they found equilibrium in their collaborative process.

The artwork for the album and two single records was designed by Avi Bohbot, who found a typographic match for the album’s musical patterns in Alterego, designed by Pieter van Rosmalen and released at his Bold Monday foundry. Information is set in Neue Haas Unica.

Alterego is constructed with nothing but horizontals and vertical lines on a grid. Most letters share the same four-verticals width, with some exceptions. On the cover M measures an extra column, and two columns are enough width for the I. Nevertheless, the cover’s stacked lines of Alterego do not form a typographic brick wall. Instead, the result looks organic because what stands out as much as the grid is the uneven distribution of its deviations. The placement of gaps (counters), intersections and subtle deviations in its rhythm such as the slightly shorter middle arm in the E or the dots in the S make all the difference between typographic Schmuck and a legible typeface (setting it at a small size and pinching your eyes helps).