Story behind the record cover: Magnolia (2014) - The Pineapple Thief

What should have been the greatest happiness turned into a nightmare. The Pineapple Thief’s  guitarist Bruce Soord and his wife had their first child. The baby was born prematurely, after just 24 weeks and sadly he died, leaving the parents with heartbreaking grief.
To cope with this grief, they planted a magnolia tree in their garden. In memory of their son Felix. The magnolia has beautiful, large white flowers. They symbolize perseverance, love and beauty.
After a while Soord started playing guitar and writing lyrics again. He is the leader of the progressive rock band The Pineapple Thief which he formed in 1999. “Magnolia” would be the band's 10th album. An appropriate title, the undercurrent of his anger and sadness about the loss is clearly audible on this album. Title track Magnolia is about his wife, whom he could hardly reach anymore due to her gloom. "You gave everything you could. I thought I'd lost you," he tries to convince her. The fear of losing her is palpable.
The Pineapple Thief went on tour again. When Soord came home, he often found his wife underneath the magnolia. When the weather was nice, that became their spot. There they sat, without saying too much to each other. Their love for each other provided unique strength in dealing with the loss of their son. The symbol of the magnolia flower applied to them, too: perseverance and pure love. Slowly his wife picked up where she left off once again.
Pineapple Thief broke through to mainstream progrock in 2016 when drummer Gavin Harrison replaced drummer Daniel Osborne. Gavin Harrison is the drummer who also plays in major bands like Porcupine Tree and in the current line-up of King Crimson. The melancholic undercurrent of the longing for a happy and stable life continues to resound in Bruce Soord's lyrics. He will always bear the loss of his newborn baby. It gives the music an extra dimension.
The idea for the album cover for “Magnolia” came from drummer Dan Osborne. On the internet he spotted a photo of this painting by French artist Patrick Gonzales, who makes surrealistic drawings. Bruce Soord agreed right away. This should be the cover for “Magnolia”. Gonzales was contacted and he agreed. The statue symbolizes the decline of his wife, as in the tragedy of Shakespeare's 'Hamlet'. In which Ophelia goes mad with grief. At first, her father forbids her to have contact with Hamlet, whom she was in love with. Later, in a fateful accident, Hamlet kills Ophelia's father when he spies on Hamlet from behind a curtain. Ophelia loses herself, only making wreaths of flowers and talking gibberish. She climbs a tree, the branch breaks and Ophelia, adorned with garlands, ends up in a river. She slowly drifts away and drowns in the river.
Fortunately, for Bruce and his wife it did not come this far. As previously mentioned, their love for each other was stronger than their sadness. In the end, they even had twins.

The Pineapple Thief is now very successful. The band regularly performs at De Boerderij. As a matter of fact, at the beginning of March this year, for two days in a row. It was a special experience. It was the first time in months since the pandemic that a major international band performed at De Boerderij. Everyone was really looking forward to this: both crew and band members of The Pineapple Thief, the volunteers at De Boerderij and the audience. Everything came together this particular weekend.

After guitarist Bruce Soord had told his personal story, I completely embraced the “Magnolia” album. The cover hangs prominently on the wall in my room. When spring finally arrives, I'm going to buy me a magnolia tree. Because of the sheer beauty of the flowers and as a reminder that I was allowed to use this text by Bruce Soord for a story about an album cover.

Gerrit-Jan Vrielink
Thanks to Bruce Soord