Emerging from the ancient catacombs of Athens, musician Eddie Dark is a shadow enigma, a storyteller placed somewhere between a B-Movie scream and a synth-pop frequency. He’s Marcel Marceau with a Minimoog, a mirage dreamt up by John Carpenter as he wanders Athens’ ruins and temples. This year saw Dark release Freakwave Cassette Vol.1, a seven-track EP that conjured a landscape of infectious, melodic gothic synth, and then followed it up with his first LP, Λουλούδια” (“Flowers”), consisting of ten “morbid songs about dealing with the grief of losing your favourite person”. We wanted to dive deeper into Dark’s mind, so we asked him for five inspirations that helped form his enchanting, haunting persona alongside a photographic portrait study by Georgia Mitropoulos.

MOVIE
Phantom of the Paradise dir. Brian De Palma, 1974

“When I was eighteen, I stumbled across a DVD of Phantom of the Paradise and watched it on repeat for about a week. The humour, the costumes and the overall aesthetic really impacted me. It’s a movie that manages to critique the music industry in such a fun way, without losing its gravitas. It’s a musical but also a parody of one and that’s kind of how I see my project too – Eddie Dark, as a character, is really just a modernised version of Winslow, the main character. This movie also showed me the importance of theatrics during a show, so I try to incorporate the phantom’s flair during my live gigs, It’s really fun playing that kind of villain on stage.”

WRITER
Franz Kafka

“I am in love with Kafka, the way he saw the world is completely terrifying and unfortunately, sometimes very realistic. He saw the horror of the mundane and in my opinion, this is a great way to get inspired. Kafka’s books taught me that even the most boring situation can cause you dread and other powerful emotions. This is the reason most of my lyrics are about the horrifying situation of just being alive. He was a human ridden with anxiety, we are very similar in this aspect, I share a lot of the same fears as him, so in a weird way his books affirm my existence, making me feel a lot less alone.”

“…most of my lyrics are about the horrifying situation of just being alive.”

MUSICIAN
John Maus

“John Maus is a genius, his music is simple but extremely interesting. Whenever I feel stuck while writing music, I listen to his album We Must Become the Pitiless Censors of Ourselves and remember that sometimes simple is better. He has created a beautiful atmospheric world filled with existential dread, it’s goth with a silly approach to things, something that I really love.”

CITY
Athens

Athens is a constantly decaying city that tries desperately to both destroy and hang on to her former beauty. You see beautiful neo-classical buildings being renovated just to become offices next to claustrophobic apartment buildings that almost look like concrete boxes. Some neighbourhoods really take on a terrifying look late at night, you almost feel like something really terrible is happening at every corner. I really love walking all night long while listening to music and pretending to be a character in a neo-noir film, it’s my favourite form of escapism.

ARTWORK
Pre-Raphaelite era

“Pre-Raphaelite paintings really strike a nerve with me. All the subjects in those paintings look so melancholic, but the reason for this melancholia isn’t always there. That aspect makes them so interesting, it’s like all those characters have an actual life and we only catch a glimpse of it. These paintings are the visual representation of the melodies I want to write, they evoke a feeling I could never put in words.”

Follow Eddie Dark on Instagram and Bandcamp.
Follow Georgia Mitropoulos on Instagram.