You have 20/20 vision if you can figure out the hidden message in band’s cover art that has confused fans for years
WHILE many optical illusions have brain teaser lovers solving puzzles, one band has used them for decades to identify their different albums.
Belgian electronic band and DJ collective Soulwax has put their fans to the test with mind-bending covers for several of their releases in the early 2000s.
One of the optical illusions used by the band 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 longer, something appears to be hidden in the picture.
If you can spot the hidden message quickly, you might just have top vision as the illusion has stumped fans of the band for years.
“It’s weird. Sometimes I can see it. Other times I can only catch part of it. And on other occasions, I see nothing,” one fan wrote on A Journal of Musical Things in 2021.
Several other music lovers have offered up hints on the best way to read the hidden message.
Some have suggested moving the image further away, either zooming the image out or physically stepping away from the photo.
Others have also recommended adjusting the brightness of the screen.
Once you find the sweet spot, you should be able to make out several words: the band’s name and the song name, NY Excuse.
Soulwax has used similar optical illusions for larger album covers as well, including for their albums Nite Versions and Any Minute Now.
Fans of the band have taken to Reddit to gush over the puzzle, with one writing, “great covers for an awesome band.”
Many other bands have used illusions for the album art for decades.
As early as the 1970s, rock band Boston used upside-down UFO guitars for their self-titled album.
Rock band Black Lips also released a monochromatic grid-like cover in 2009 for 200 Million Thousand.
However, the illusion hid a face instead of words.
As fans have struggled to make out the illusion for decades, they have also spent years speculating how Soulwax first created the mind-bending image.
“The white squares inside the text zones are smaller than the outside ones so the black lines are thicker,” one Reddit user suggested.
“I’ve achieved this by doing 2 different halftone sizes, then simply mask one over the other (using type as the mask),” another wrote on the same Reddit thread.
“The letter squares are smaller than normal squares,” a third person concluded.