It’s quite fascinating how Edgar Allen Poe’s works continue to inspire and thrill fans of Gothic Horror to this day. His works have been re-imagined and redone and reread and so on and so forth so many times that when another person takes a stab at it quite a few roll their eyes and dismiss it. Double Eyelid is one of those people attempting to take a stab at it and impress his audience far and wide. So far his fans seem to be loving his interpretation; part horror audio book, part gothic ambiance. We get to learn of this piece and a little bit about him in today’s edition of INTRODUCING.
Give us a brief about your band. Who are you and what do you do?
Double Eyelid is a gothic art rock project that’s focused around my songwriting.
When did you first launch the project and how has it come along since?
We had our first release in 2012 with ‘Dead is Better’ but were formed a few years earlier. ‘Dead is Better’ became a bit of an underground hit and our album ‘Seven Years’ in 2014 got some critical acclaim. We followed that up with a remix album in 2016 because even though the critics liked our first album the DJs weren’t really taking to it, and that actually helped us a lot. In the years since then we’ve released a handful of singles and did a lot of touring, covering most of Canada and the US and hitting a few major festivals like Absolution, Mechanismus and Bats in the Attic. The new release is our first long-form work in quite a while, and it’s also the first one that I play all the instruments on, which was mostly a choice for expediency’s sake. Planning to stay studio-focused for a while.
What bands and artists influenced you the most and why?
Sex Gang Children / Andi Sex Gang, Rozz Williams and Death In June – all for the quality of their songwriting and their artistic bravery.
If you could pick a single song from your discography to explain your music, which song would you pick and why?
I don’t think that’s really possible, each song exists in its own world. Our first single ‘Dead Is Better’ is the one that seems to have gotten the most traction over the years and I still like it, so if I was forced to choose one I guess I’d choose that. It’s ambitious and breaks the ‘rules’ of songwriting while still being catchy; these are all things I aspire to when I write.
What is your most recent release and what is it about?
The most recent release is my adaptation of Poe’s ‘The Tell-Tale Heart’ – which, if you’re unfamiliar with the story, is about a man’s descent into murderous madness.
Take us through your creative process. How do you compose a song from start to finish? Where do the ideas come from?
I tend to let my ideas percolate in my head for a while before actually ‘writing’ them. A good idea is one that I will still be excited about weeks or months after that initial inspiration. And then, when I’m ready to get to work there is a whole library inside my mind that I can reference to get me started. I play multiple instruments, so I’ll just go to whatever I need to make the sound I want. Double Eyelid has always been a songwriting-focused, multi-genre project that does not repeat itself. This is a claim many artists make but if you look at our discography I think you’ll find that when we say it, it’s actually true. As far as the technical process – I use Maschine to build beats, once I’ve got enough of a framework that I’m ready to start recording audio I move everything into Logic and record with that.
What’s your current favorite song, band, or album within your scene? And vice versa, what do you enjoy the most that’s completely opposite of what you make?
Tough one, there are many current artists in the scene I enjoy. I particularly like Escarlatina Obsessiva, Damien Hearse, VR Sex and Bendi Boi. Big fan of The Scarlet Fever as well. For different stuff- Pharrell released a record called ‘Black Yacht Rock’ that was interesting. I also listen to quite a bit of hip-hop. And I enjoyed the ‘Silksonic’ project by Bruno Mars and Anderson .Paak.
What is on the horizon for your project? Upcoming gigs, tours, merch, videos, etc. Name it, link it, show it off.
We just released ‘The Tell-Tale Heart.’ After years of lots of gigs and not enough recording I’m doing the opposite for the foreseeable future, so expect more releases in 2026. Live gigs will hopefully return when the world feels a bit more sane. I love to travel and perform in different places around the world, it’s a rare privilege and I look forward to doing it again.
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