It has been a spotlight of our inventive neighborhood for a decade, and it is again as soon as extra with the identical much-loved format: an nameless public sale that includes a few of our favorite artists and designers.
Should you’ve someway been residing beneath a rock, here is how Secret 7″ works. Seven tracks from seven well-known musicians are every pressed 100 instances onto seven-inch vinyl – 700 data in all. Artists, illustrators, designers, and the odd musician are then invited to create a one-off sleeve for every one. The catch (and the enjoyment) is that all of it stays secret. You bid on the sleeve you’re keen on, not the identify behind it, and the artist and the monitor are solely revealed as soon as the report is in your fingers. You would stroll away with a famous person’s tune wrapped in a legend’s art work, or an rising identify you may be glad you noticed early on.
Nowadays, Battle Baby is behind the mission. However Secret 7″ was based in 2012 by Kevin King and Jordan Stokes, arrange whereas King was working at Common Music. It is why the music has all the time come from the Common catalogue. It ran for seven editions till 2020, elevating over £500,000 and gathering sleeves from the likes of Sir Anish Kapoor, Yoko Ono, Sir Paul Smith, and Ai Weiwei alongside the best way. Battle Baby revived it in 2023, and that is the third version beneath the charity… making it the tenth in all.
This yr’s seven tracks come from John Lennon, The Final Dinner Get together, Gabrielle, The Maccabees, Pores and skin, Glass Animals, and Bastille – with Lennon’s ‘Out the Blue’ and The Final Dinner Get together’s ‘Let’s Do It Once more!’ among the many songs hidden inside.
A gloriously broad line-up
Okay, so the roster of visible artists for 2026 will imply you may need to bid on every part. Ceramist Clare Twomey MBE, French muralist Thierry Noir – whose elongated faces turned a logo of resistance throughout the Berlin Wall – and British Sri Lankan multidisciplinary artist Murugiah sit alongside graphic designer Anthony Burrill, New York-based British artist Jon Burgerman, and Liverpool inventive Sumuyya Khader. All well-loved and acquainted names to us all.
There are sleeves from The Connor Brothers, Pleasure Yamusangie, Ken Nwadiogbu, Joey Yu, and Welsh artist Pete Fowler, finest recognized for his Tremendous Furry Animals art work. Andy Vella, who has been making covers for The Treatment for greater than 40 years, has returned to the mission, having supported it since 2012. Ben Kelly, the inside designer behind Manchester’s legendary Haçienda, has created one, as have artist, poet, and director LionHeart, photographer Rebecca Zephyr Thomas, and Chris Lloyd, recognized for sketching reside concert events.
There is a beautiful thread of musicians who’ve crossed into artwork, as nicely. The Maccabees’ frontman, Orlando Weeks, has made a sleeve, as has Justine Frischmann, who co-founded Suede and fronted Elastica earlier than leaving music for a profession as a visible artist.
One additional element for collectors this yr: each report carries an unique B-side etching by Murugiah, whose candy-coloured, South Asian-influenced work spans movie, structure, artwork, and design.
The artists on their sleeves
Clare Twomey’s contribution may be probably the most radical of the lot. “The work consists from Wedgwood blue Jasperware mud, produced by grinding valuable Wedgwood objects into pigment,” she tells Artistic Growth. For her, the fabric speaks on to the tune it accompanies. “Hope could be understood as a reconsideration of what seems mounted or everlasting; via acts of imaginative reconstruction, new areas for contemplation and chance can emerge.”
Jon Burgerman, who has taken half greater than as soon as, sums up the attraction. “Each time I’ve contributed, I have been equally excited for the exhibition, to see if anybody can spot my sleeve, and that every one of this artwork shall be going to such an necessary trigger,” he says.
For Murugiah, a part of the enjoyable is the thriller itself. “To know that almost all prospects of the public sale won’t know which artist has designed which sleeve and for which tune … it is such a enjoyable factor to be part of,” he says, “and to create a chunk of artwork that’s tangible and tactile on this ever-growing digital world we reside in.”
Greater than the artwork
For Battle Baby, the public sale means greater than the sleeves. “Secret 7″ continues to exhibit the highly effective function that creativity can play in driving constructive change, even in among the most harmful components of the world,” says the charity’s fundraising and engagement director, Charlotte Nimmo. “We’re massively grateful to the distinctive artists who’ve contributed their expertise to this yr’s marketing campaign.”
The cash funds psychological well being assist, emergency assist, schooling, and safety for kids affected by battle, with the charity and its native companions working in Sudan, Ukraine, Gaza, Afghanistan, the DRC, and elsewhere. Greater than 520 million kids – one in 5 worldwide – have had their lives affected by battle, in accordance with Battle Baby. Throughout its 9 editions thus far, Secret 7″ has raised over £900,000, and 100% of proceeds go on to that work.
How to participate
All 700 sleeves will go on present at 180 Studios in London from 18 to 30 August 2026, with an internet public sale operating from 18 August to 2 September. Discover the one which stops you in your tracks, place your bid, and wait to find what – and who – you have been fortunate sufficient to win.
As for this yr’s tracklist? You may see the total particulars over on the devoted web site. Personally? I will be bidding on one thing for The Maccabees. Good luck.
