Formula Indie Sessions : Interview with Dark Ensō
What is your earliest memory connected to music?
(Georgios) Music has always been an important part in our house. I guess the first one that made me get a real interest into music was listening to Savatage’s ‘DT Jesus’ which was the radio edit for their song ‘Jesus Saves’. The melodies and arrangement along with the gospel felt like magic to me.
(James) Listening to dad’s music, Ezio-black boots on latin feet, at the time, in the car as he drove around to wind us down.
How did your passion for creating music begin?
(Georgios) Through the demo-scene and a small software called ‘Fasttracker 2’. It was my first experience creating simple melodies. Later on a friend of mine bought a guitar and got into a band and every weekend we would meet, he would show me what songs he learned on the guitar and I felt that I want to do the same!
(James) My parents played and sang, it’s always helped my mood and when I realised that it could help others in the same way, my passion grew from there.
What’s the story behind your current music project?
(Georgios) The band started as a progressive, dark rock outlet with focus on lyrics that could, hopefully, engage the audience into creative/critical thinking. I was looking for a singer and I have reached out to James, who we used to work together in IT and we share pretty much the same interests in music. Through trial and error we reached to what you can hear in our 2 releases so far. We are also working together with other session musicians that they contribute and hopefully we will have them on a permanent basis in the coming months.
How would you describe your sound to someone who has never heard your music before?
(Both) In means of genre, we are closer to dark rock with some hints of progressive and alternative metal. If you love music from bands like Anathema, Katatonia, Riverside, Tool, A Perfect Circle and Porcupine Tree then you will definitely find something in our music you can relate to.
What is one thing you’ve learned that completely changed the way you make music?
(Georgios) Technical prowess doesn’t necessarily mean meaningful music. Technique and skills should serve the composition and not the other way around.
(James) I’ve only really got under the hood of lyrics, melody and harmony writing – you don’t need to fill everything bar. Less is more and simple repetitions with small changes do wonders.
What tools, instruments, or software are essential in your creative process?
(Georgios) Logic Pro as a DAW and then a number of virtual instruments from Native Instruments. Guitar related software comes from Neural DSP however all our main instruments are played live.
(James) Tea and honey, Audacity and my Martin DJR
Which indie artist or song are you loving right now?
(Georgios) Not indie but currently I am listening to a band called The Pineapple Thief and their record ‘Magnolia’. I find it very emotional and challenging musically.
(James) Not sure if either are technically “indie” but Noah Kahan and Frank Turner are on a lot at the moment (Stick Season and Tape Deck Heart)
How have your personal experiences influenced your music and artistic vision?
(Georgios) I have always considered myself as an introvert. Seeing how the world behaves, actions and the results of those actions had an influence to me. This is something that we both try to capture in our lyrics mainly and interpretate in our music.
(James) I lean into themes of loneliness, isolation, heart break and inciting change
What emotions or messages do you hope listeners take from your work?
(Both) As mentioned earlier, we want to engage our audience into critical/creative thinking. Our music conveys those emotions we felt we express with the lyrics and hopefully it can do the same for anyone who is willing to give a chance to listen to our music.
What’s the most important lesson music has taught you so far?
(Georgios) To paraphrase Dizzie Gillespie, learning what not to play
(James) To listen
What is a dream venue or festival you would love to perform at?
(Both) We never had dreams as such although we would never say no if we get an opportunity to perform at a big venue! I think, for us, as long as we have fans who enjoy our music and lyrics, we will be more than happy. To have your music accepted even by one person, to know that your music impacts someone else’s emotions, is the greatest achievement we could have. But if we had to choose, we would prefer a small stage or an intimate venue, it beats out a big one for us.
If you could collaborate with any artist, past or present, who would it be and why?
(Georgios) That might come as a surprise but I would say Philip Glass. I am a huge fan of minimalist music. My dissertations for my BA and MA were both focusing on minimalist music in cinema and video games. His composition skills and how themes are structured have always been sort of a corner stone for me.
(James) John Mayer for his history of technical excellence, support big names and lighting smaller ones in collaboration or maybe Haley Williams for a vocal duet either would be amazing! I entertain Jim Morrison or Jeff Buckley, I bet that could have been a blast.
Where can our listeners follow and support your music? (Website,Spotify, IG, links)
(Both) We are in the process of building our website so at this stage I would redirect anyone to our BandCamp page, https://darkenso.bandcamp.com/
Looking toward the future, what’s your dream for the next chapter of your musical journey?
(Both) We are hoping to have an album or an EP completed in the next few months and going out to play our music.
What do you hope listeners will discover about you along the way?
(Both) We really hope that they will discover something they can relate to and enjoy our music.
