Louise Colbourne who leads the University of Brighton’s graphics postgraduate degree has co-created a lush visual celebration of Pulp’s sixth album, This Is Hardcore, featuring unseen photography, behind-the-scenes interviews and visuals.

From the mid- to late 1990s, ex-University of Brighton lecturer Paul Burgess was invited by Jarvis Cocker to document the British band Pulp, taking photographs during video shoots, live gigs and other events for landmark album, This Is Hardcore.

Written and designed by Burgess and current staff member Louise Colbourne, Hardcore contains a candid selection of previously unseen images of the band, behind the scenes and on set, of the four main video shoots made to promote the album. As Pulp announce a new tour and twenty-five years since Pulp released this album, the book aims to hold up a mirror to the creative processes and characters behind the record.

With curated images from Burgess’s archive, Hardcore also includes quotations and interviews from then and now by the video directors, band members and other artists involved with the album. The book contains contributions from Doug Nichol, John Currin, Stephen Mallinder, Sergei Sviatchenko, John Stezaker and Florian Habicht, all of whom have a connection to the album, the band or the era. There are also visual responses from a selection of younger artists and designers, such as Alexa Vieira, who have been inspired by Burgess’s photographs and the band’s legacy.

Hardcore is available on the Rough Trade website.

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