The design of the CD covers of the Munich record label ECM is as unique as its music. Over the course of forty years a body of artwork has developed whose coherence rests upon the individuality and forceful ambiguity of each and every motif.

After the highly acclaimed Sleeves of Desire of 1996, which offered an overview of ECM cover art, this volume presents the covers that have been created since then. These covers, which are mainly photographic works, are arranged here in the form of a visual score that invites personal interpretations and individual discoveries. ECM cover art envelops a program that has written modern music history, and serves also as a manifesto announcing the congruence of the visible and the audible through the medium of the compact disc.

When this media is replaced by new technologies, the image will disappear.
Which is a shame. Immateriality comes at a price.