· By Mattias Forsgren

Darkplace is back to give us another glimpse of their extensive and grim universe with new singel Fearmonger

Darkplace is an anonymous band that has recently emerged on the music scene, set to release their debut album 'About the End of the World' in the autumn of 2023. Their music is rooted in post punk, but incorporates a variety of other genres in their sound. The concept behind the album is centred around a grim future, or perhaps present, where the world is depicted through digital paintings in the accompanying music videos. The imagery is inspired by the bleak landscape of Stockholm's Västerort, but with a unique and imaginative twist.

Most of the instrumental songs on 'About the End of the World' were written with a specific dramaturgy and story in mind, which shows in the cinematic short movie-like music videos. Darkplace gives us an intriging insight to their creative process. "The first idea for an animation was Arken Över Hesselby. We started creating the art before we had the music, so the piece is written as a soundtrack to the animation. Same goes with Fearmonger."

The art is a multi layered process that involve photography, sculpting, oli painting, digital editing and animation. Darkplace explains: "For structures like The Ark over Hesselby Nomad Sculpt is used to form it, then the motives are exported in the specific angle each scene requires and is imported into Procreate to be painted there. We use oil paintbrushes and paint over the photo. It is layers upon layers and it gets messy. Exporting gets even messier since we want depth in the scenes and need to export them in layered depths. A few scenes in this project have been frame by frame animated as well. This projekt has taken almost 2 years so far, so we try to kept it to a minimal."

The debut single 'Arken över Hesselby' translates to 'The Ark Over Hesselby', pointing towards an alternative version of the Stockholm suburb "Hässelby". It's video shows us a familiar cityscape, haunted by an unknown presents watched form the sky. With 'Fearmonger' the story trasports us to another part of the same daunting universe, to vittnes the fate of a lone fot soldier in the face of the mysterious Ark.

It comes as no surprice that Darkplace is about far more than just releaseing exelent music. It is an art project that seeks to explore and comment on the state of the world through audio and visuals. As a new and enigmatic force in the music industry, Darkplace is sure to turn heads with their innovative approach to creating art.

'Fearmonger' will be released via the Stockholm based indie label Icons Creating Evil Art, streamable on all major platforms on May 19th, 2023.
 

LABEL CONTACT
Beatrice Lindholm

A&R, Project Manager
Icons Creating Evil Art
Råsundavägen 73, Solna
Sweden

bea@icea.se