I appreciate everybody's interest in this. The answer to Pete's general question about what's going on with Hypnos, and the more specific questions about the new Viridian Sun album, are the same answer.
We have a number of Hypnos releases lined up, but for the past 6 months or so we've been considering changing the way we package our CDs, so we held off on releasing anything until a good solution could be found. While the usual plastic jewel case is durable, and easily replaced, I've often enjoyed simpler packaging with less plastic bulk, such as the thin folio sleeves of labels like Cyclic Law, Faria, and Umbra, as well as the completely plastic-free, hand-made packaging of the Somnia label, and some of the letterpress sleeves of the old A Produce albums.
We've considered variations on all of the above, and I've printed and cut out and assembled many dozens of different package mockup. Now I think we've arrived at a new plan which will involve a different approach from all of the above, but one which does away with as many of the negatives as possible, cutting down on material waste and excessive plastic, while retaining the quality of a beautiful object that distinguishes the best CD releases from releases in CDR or download formats.
Hypnos releases will remain professionally manufactured CDs, not CDRs (though the Hypnos Secret Sounds limited edition CDR imprint will continue), and will be released with high quality printed booklet (possibly more that one printed piece) inserted in a 5-inch square envelope of translucent vellum. We will probably also make available a freely downloadable PDF file for each release, for those who wish to print out a "tray card" and insert the CD and booklet into a conventional jewel case.
Soon I will post a bit more information about this, as well as photos of the mocked-up packaging for the coming-soon releases, such as Viridian Sun, Jeff Pearce, and Nebulae releases.
