ALTHOUGH many optical illusions leave brain teasers puzzling, one band has been using them for decades to identify their various albums.
Belgian electronic band and DJ collective Soulwax put their fans to the test with stunning covers for several of their releases in the early 2000s.
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Electronic band Soulwax used optical illusions for their cover Credits: Soulwax
One of the optical illusions the band used was for their 2005 single NY Excuse.
At first glance, the cover looks like a black and white monochrome grid.
However, as you look at the image for a longer time, something seems to be hidden in the image.
If you can quickly spot the hidden message, you may have superior eyesight as the illusion has baffled fans of the band for years.
“It’s weird. Sometimes I can see it. Other times I can only catch part of it. And other times I can’t see anything,” one fan wrote in A Journal of Musical Things 2021.
Several other music fans offered advice on how best to read the hidden message.
Some have suggested moving the image further away, either shrinking the image or physically moving away from the photo.
Others have also recommended adjusting the screen brightness.
Once you find the sweet spot, you should be able to make out a few words: the name of the band and the name of the song, NY Excuse.
Soulwax used similar optical illusions for larger album covers as well, including for their Nite Versions and Any Minute Now albums.
Fans of the band took to Reddit to solve the puzzle, with one writing, “great covers for a great band.”
Many other bands have used illusions for album covers for decades.
Already in the 1970s, the rock group Boston used upside-down UFO guitars for their self-titled album.
Rock group Black Lips also released a monochromatic lattice work in 2009 for 200 million.
However, the illusion hid a face instead of words.
While fans have struggled for decades to make out the illusion, they’ve also spent years speculating about how Soulwax first created the stunning image.
“The white squares inside the text zones are smaller than the outside so the black lines are thicker,” said one Reddit user.
“I achieved this by making 2 different halftone sizes and then simply masking one over the other (using the type as a mask),” wrote another on the same Reddit thread.
“The letter squares are smaller than normal squares,” concluded a third person.
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The words ‘soul wax’ and ‘NY Excuse’ can be seen in the illusion after a long hard stareCredit: Soulwax
Categories: Optical Illusion
Source: HIS Education