The pragmatics and Semiotics Analysis of Vinyl Record Cover Art They Fell From The Sky's Album DECADE

Journal of Pragmatics Research Vol. 04, No. 02, (2022) pp.167-178 E-ISSN: 2656-8020 Website: http://e-journal.iainsalatiga.ac.id/index.php/jopr/index The Pragmatics and Semiotics Analysis of Vinyl Record Cover Art They Fell From The Sky's Album DECADE Sigied Himawan Yudhanto Sekolah Vokasi, Universitas Sebelas Maret, Surakarta, Indonesia E-mail: Faizal Risdianto Universitas Islam Negeri Salatiga, Indonesia E-mail: DOI: https://doi.org/10.18326/jopr.v4i2.167-178 Copyright © The Author (s) This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. How to Cite: Yudhanto, S., & Risdianto, F. (2022). The pragmatics and Semiotics Analysis of Vinyl Record Cover Art They Fell From The Sky's Album DECADE. Journal https://doi.org/10.18326/jopr.v4i2.167-178 Submission Track: Received: 01-07-2022 Final Revision: 01-09--2022 Available online: 03-09-2022 Corresponding Author: Sigied Himawan Yudhanto of Pragmatics Research, 4(2). doi: ABSTRACT In this study, the researchers focus on the meaning of the DECADE album cover from They Fell From The Sky music band. This was chosen because the artwork used is quite attractive and has This study uses qualitative research with a descriptive method. The analysis was carried out using the semiotic theory of Roland Barthes and the pragmatics theory of John Searle. This study aimed to determine the meaning contained in the cover design of the DECADE album. This research shows that between context signs and visible signs, there is a relationship where the two synergize in the title. The band, namely "They Fell From The Sky," by using a skull image that uses an astronaut costume in an iconic, denotative, and connotative symbolizing "death," a form of death because "falling from the sky" so the message to be conveyed is to publish the Decade album which for ten years or "a decade" like struggling until astronauts in outer space experience death as if falling from the sky. The Astronaut's skull artwork entitled in Indonesian "Binasa" ("Perish" in English) which is the basis of the DECADE album cover design, also strengthens this interpretation. Keywords: Album cover, Semiotics, Pragmatics. 167 INTRODUCTION The cover of a music group album product is sometimes loaded with implied meanings, even though the function of the album cover is actually as a tool to promote the sales of the album product, whose content is aligned within the genre of the music. The term "Album cover design" is imagined as where visual art meets the music."At that time, it was also realized that an album cover does not only function to protect the cassette or L.P.s in it; another function is to convey or communicate the vision and identity desired by the recording artist and record label and also to show the artistic side of an album and represent the atmosphere of the Album. Colors, images, and compositions can communicate the design personality through many design elements and principles, including logos on brands, packaging colors, fonts, images, shapes, lines, textures, and other graphic design elements (Oladumiye & Ebenezer, 2018, p. 02). Whatever the genre of music, the Album is designed by a designer in the corridor of form following the sense of enjoyment. When the album cover is made, it will become the hallmark of the Album. So that it will present the emotions and moods that the artist wants his listeners to feel and is an essential component in music branding (Dorochowicz & Kostek, 2019, p. 02). The designer interprets what the band wants, starting from the parameter that the album design must also be accepted by the market and compete when displayed with other album cover designs whether the Album is able "to sound" the feeling of the artists. The study of the history of album covers is a theme that is quite widely analyzed. Some elements, such as iconography, liner notes, and artwork, on the album design represent the identity of the cover design. (Vad, 2021, p. 12). This is where a in depth-study of the album cover is conducted and examines the shifting myths and messages in the sociocultural context that shape the ones found in the album cover design. The object of the study is the cover design on the vinyl record album of a U.K. band called They Fell From The Sky (TFFTS). The band was formed in 2008 and only released their first Album in 2021 (Cockrell, 2021) for the physical form of the Album; they only released vinyl records. The physical condition of a vinyl record album cover determines the size, dimensions, and materials; the cover design on a Vinyl record is a medium for expression measuring 33 X 33 cm with a 12-inch L.P. size. (Herdyanto, 2019) The cover design on vinyl record media is quite significant, considering the Album is printed in physical form. The artwork on the Album's front cover will be analyzed using pragmatic and semiotic studies, which are correlated in concluding the verbal and visual meaning. 168 Figure 1. DECADE album cover image on a vinyl record Source: Invicta Magazine Pragmatics is the study of the intent behind the speech of a speaker and interlocutor bound by context, which is to translate and identify the meaning of the text. At the same time, a designer or artist is the bearer of the sign; the design process itself creates friction between the designer's ideology and, in brief given so that communication occurs in the form of 'Individualistic Subjectivism', Volosinov considers that the individual human mind is the most critical place for language in taking language itself into a type of aesthetic activity, with the natural consequence that all speech acts are individual, creative and non-reproducible. (Crowley), 2018, p. 39). The terminology of 'Abstract objectivism' means that when it includes elements that are among the possibilities of pragmatics utterances. Linguistic utterances can be interpreted directly according to the meaning of the locutionary or indirectly impact the recipient due to the power of the illocutionary forces. In this context, intentionality, the speaker can manipulate with a sense of speech showing the transparency of the speaker's intention. The meaning of an open or hidden expression is when the recipient understands it immediately or interprets it only through paraphrasing (Wąsik, 2017, p. 476). Pragmatics is the study of meaning concerning speech situations. Pragmatics is a branch of linguistics that studies language structure externally; that is, the linguistic unit is used in communication (Wijana in Damayanti, 2019, p. 47). Visuals on the Album will be interpreted with semiotic studies; Semiotics is a system to form/find meaning about social phenomena (Crossman & Sarbari, 2021, p. 54). Visual signs guide the interpretation of what happens according to possible scripts and contribute to framing characters, fairy tale worlds, and sequences of events (Merminod & Burger, 2018, p. 10). RESEARCH METHOD The method used in this study is qualitati (...truncated)