Darkplace is an anonymous art-project that emerged on the music scene with impressive presence and storytelling earlier this year. The music is rooted in post punk, but incorporates a variety of other genres in ist sound, among which Experimental Rock, Alt-Pop and Shoegaze are prominent. The debut album 'About the End of the World' is a monumental release, speaking not only through the medium of sound, but also through stunningly glum digital paintings and animations. The concept behind the album is set in a grim future, or perhaps present, where the world is depicted through imagery inspired by real life places, mostly centred around the bleak landscape of Stockholm's east suburbs - but with a dark, imaginative twist.

The debut single 'Arken över Hesselby' translates to 'The Ark Over Hesselby' and portrays an alternative version of the Stockholm suburb "Hässelby". The music video shows us a familiar cityscape, haunted by an unknown arc watching from the sky. The story continues in second single 'Fearmonger', where we bear witness to the fate of a lone foot soldier as he faces the ominous skyship. Third single 'Cars' tells the story of a man travelling north, following cryptic messages written on highway signs that mysteriously only shows up in the blast of his headlights. the last single 'This Is Loud' , brings us back full circle to yet another Stockholm suburb, this time in the south, where the jarring presence of huge stone crosses terrorizes the population.

"I couldn’t go out anymore, I didn’t feel safe. It was all connected, I don't know how but we all knew it was part of something bigger. In secret forums we discussed. We knew what it ment, the world was ending. Is it possible to survive this? Will we all go mad? Nowhere is safe."

The songs on 'About the End of the World' were all written with a specific dramaturgy in mind, which shows in the cinematic short movie-like music videos, one for each and every track. Darkplace gives us an intriguing insight to the creative process. "The first idea for an animation was Arken Över Hesselby. I started creating the art before I had the music, so the piece is written as a soundtrack to the animation."

The art is a multi layered process that involves photography, sculpting, oil painting, digital editing and animation. Darkplace explains: "For structures, 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. I use oil paint brushes and paint over the photo. It is layers upon layers and it gets messy. Exporting gets even messier since I 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 project has taken almost 2 years so far, so I try to keep it to a minimum."

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

'About the End of the World' will be released via the Stockholm based indie label Icons Creating Evil Art, streamable on all major platforms on October 27th, 2023.

LABEL CONTACT

Beatrice Lindholm
A&R, Project Manager
Icons Creating Evil Art
Råsundavägen 73, Solna
Sweden
bea@icea.se