In many ways, the homemade cover art for Connor D’Netto’s new album tells as much of a story about the composer’s work as the music itself.

The seven tracks for clarinet, viola da gamba and nyckelharpa slip between ambient soundscape and contemporary classical – and, in the composer’s own words, “abstractly come to terms with queerness, self and place”.

Connor D’Netto. Photo © Gabrielle Clement, Gxbriellemxry Photography

It’s apt, then, that D’Netto positioned one of the album’s core themes on its cover almost by accident. A triptych of images of his left hand, posed in marginally altered positions and sporting pastel nail polish, these partial self-portraits reveal slightly different versions of the same thing.

“It wasn’t super intentional that I had nail polish on that day,” D’Netto reflects, “it just happened. I think I took [the photos] on my iPhone, up against a wall in my bedroom, just because I wanted something to play with at the time.”

The images were taken in 2017, while he was studying for his Master of Music at London’s Royal College of Music, originating the...