"Often, a record cover is the result of a thorough design process that (at least in my case) results in a visual interpretation of the album title.

And sometimes, like this time with Stein Torleif Bjella’s album Velkomen skodde, the design process ends up... a lot more than that.

I asked my collaborator Marthe Amanda Vannebo if she wanted to take the cover photo. She agreed, and asked if Bjella had any input. Bjella said he felt his new album had a close relationship with Bob Dylan’s Time Out of Mind, both musically and visually. To which Marthe replied: 'That’s interesting, as I was given the camera by Daniel Lanois that he used to take the cover picture for Time Out of Mind.'

Marthe introduced Bjella to Lanois, and many long phone conversations later, they decided to collaborate—resulting in Lanois producing the title track Velkomen skodde, and Bjella joining him as a special guest on Lanois’ 2026 Scandinavian tour. Sometimes life’s coincidences are the most beautiful things we can experience.

The initial idea was to use that camera to take a black-and-white image of Bjella in his studio for the front cover. But first, Marthe and Bjella traveled to Sweden to take some press photos. From that session, there was one shot of Bjella alone on a pier (you can’t see his face, but somehow it couldn’t be anyone else) watching the fog (skodde) just about to roll in.

It was the perfect cover—because as Bjella says: 'Many artists have made songs about the darkness and sadness of the fog, but I wanted to make one about the comfort of that stillness.'

With so many stories to tell about this release, its cover, music, production, and collaboration, only a broadsheet tabloid felt appropriate. It was bundled with the first 500 copies—along with a black-and-white postcard of Bjella in the studio, taken with the exact same camera used for Bob Dylan’s Time Out of Mind. The circle was complete.

'One small, seemingly insignificant thing happens, which leads to another, which leads to another, and suddenly your whole life has turned on a dime.' — Elizabeth Gilbert"

All photos by Marthe Amanda Vannebo

Listen to the album