Platonos, Lena

Platonos, Lena

Piercing Red

Dark Entries

The poetry of groundbreaking Greek artist Lena Platonos takes center stage in Piercing Red: Collected Poems and Lyrics 1984–2008. Best known for her radical electronic music compositions, her innovative work as a poet has been underacknowledged, in no small part due to writing and singing in her native Greek. This book was put together to rectify this lapse, to help encounter her song lyrics on their own as literary work. Collected here are all the poems Platonos put to music over four decades, appearing for the first time in English thanks to loving translations by Stathis Gourgouris. Careful attention was paid to Platonos’s phrasing so that the unique voicings and surrealist imagery would come forth intact. With their rapid-fire juxtapositions and dreamlike narrations, these poems are gestural and performative evocations of the artist’s vast inner world. They are performances of her soul in the realm of words. Book design and typography by Eloise Leigh. “Platonos’s poetic musings across the collection draw inspiration from her home in Athens—a place steeped in classical history. She evokes the architecture and mythology of the city, creating ambient space with an ambivalence to emotions. The energy throughout is delicately cohesive, the artistic vision is strong, and the beautifully delicate narrative exists as if lost in time.”—Emily Hill, The Vinyl Factory

Platonos, Lena

Balancers

Dark Entries

Greek electronic music legend Lena Platonos returns to Dark Entries with Balancers, an LP of previously unreleased material recorded between 1982-1985. Athens-based Platonos has worked with the label previously to reissue her three solo LPs - Gallop, Sun Masks, and Lepidoptera - as well as to release three accompanying 12” EPs featuring modern remixes of her work. She is renowned for her forays into cutting-edge electronic experimentation as well as her striking, impressionistic poetry and lyrics, always recited in Greek.  The twelve tracks on Balancers reveal a murkier side of Lena, one draped in tenebrous washes and oneiric utterances. Ragged analog rhythms feature on several tracks, even breaking into a brooding electro groove on “A Cat in the Corner”, but the predominant tone is sparse and somber. Mournful instrumental “Phaethon” swells to mythological proportions, while “In September” feels small enough to fit in your pocket. Lena’s poetry sits amidst lush pads and Radiophonic Workshop-esque squiggles, her voice setting an intimate tone in the shifting electronic sea. Inspiration is drawn from Greek mythology and architecture, and lyrics evoke a soft sorrow, an ambivalence towards love, life, and the passage of time. Although the material here spans 3 years and features a range of recording fidelities and synthesis techniques, the collection possesses the heft of a singular artist’s vision. Balancers was remastered by George Horn at Fantasy Studios. Eloise Leigh designed the sleeve, which features a doubled Lena in washed-out burgundy hues, channeling the femininity and mystery of the album. Also...

Platonos, Lena

Lepidoptera Remixes Ep

Dark Entries

***LENA PLATONOS is a Greek musician, pianist and music composer. Her third solo album, Lepidoptera was produced in 1986 and reissued by Dark Entries in 2018. Inspired by a scientific book on butterflies she found in a trashcan one day, the compositions follow minimalistic motifs and carefully-staged soundscapes. Lena narrates each song in deadpan fashion, skillfully reciting her surreal Greek poetry. We’ve recruited 4 contemporary Greek producers to remix their favorite tracks from Lepidoptera. First up is “Cyaniris” remixed by ANATOLIAN WEAPONS who delivers an enchanted late-night journey through the New Wave forest. Next is “Araschnia Levana” remixed by PASIPHAE who speeds up the pace with machine driven melodic electro pulses. On the B-side we have JUNE remixing “Cyaniris” twirling the track into a complex deep sea dive with lush drum kicks and pads. Closing out the EP is a remix of “Τα Γενέθλια Ή Aporia Maturna” by MORAH who leads us to the underworld of Hades via sinister squelches and full-on apocalyptic rave breakdown. The jacket is a reinterpretation of the original Lepidoptera cover, isolating the illustration of the butterfly/woman designed by ELOISE LEIGH.

Platonos, Lena

Gallop

Dark Entries

***BACK IN PRINT!!! LENA PLATONOS is a Greek musician, pianist and music composer. One of the pioneers in the Greek electronic music scene of the 1980s, she remains active today. Lena was born on the island of Crete and grew up in Athens. She began learning how to play the piano at the age of two and became a professional pianist before turning eighteen. Soon afterwards, she received a scholarship to study in Vienna and Berlin, where she was exposed to jazz, rock and Middle Eastern music. She returned to Greece in the late ‘70s and began working with the Hellenic Broadcasting Corporation. She released 3 collaborative albums between 1981-1983 and her debut solo album in 1984. Gallop was Lena Platonos’ second record that she solely composed, produced and sang. The record was released in 1985 and paved the way for Greek electronica of the 1990s. Gallop was composed in the wake of a painful separation, and took several months to complete. Lena says, “It’s a study in the mythology of urban population of the contemporary metropolis and also a gaze into the future life of it.” The album is made exclusively using analog synthesizers and heavily features the iconic Roland TR-808 drum machine. Lena narrates each song, reciting her own surreal Greek poetry with unique skill. Lyrics deal with heartbreak, dreams, desires, and astutely predict the way that computers and technology would infiltrate our society in the years to come. Gallop is an album ahead of...

Platonos, Lena

Sun Masks Remix

Dark Entries

Lena Platonos is a Greek musician, pianist and music composer. Her debut solo album, ‘Μάσκες Ηλίου’ (‘Sun Masks’) was produced in 1984 and reissued by Dark Entries in 2016. The album featured experiments with different sounds and a new batch of electronic equipment, such as the Roland TR 808 drum machine and Yamaha C60 synthesizer. Lena narrates each song in deadpan fashion, skillfully reciting her surreal Greek poetry. Her lyrics deal with the futility of love, the gap of human relationships, consumerist alienation in the bourgeois lifestyle of the 1980s. We’ve recruited four of our favorite contemporary producers to remix their favorite tracks from ‘Sun Masks’. First up is “Lego” remixed by triple scorpio supernova Avalon Emerson, who is based in Berlin. Her remix morphs the track into a solid dancefloor twister. Next is “Lego” remixed by Lena Willikens, Cologne based DJ and resident at Salon Des Amateurs in Düsseldorf. She provides a deep and psychedelic journey through the darker shadows of the early night or morning. On the B-side is New Yorker and Firehouse Recordings boss Kim Ann Foxman remixing “Hoping By Shopping”. She transforms the spacey robotic vocoder track into a dynamic deep house workout, tough and dreamy all at once. Closing out the EP is a remix of “Wrong Love” by Berlin via Bucharest producer Borusiade aka Miruna Boruzescu. Enhancing the original melancholic piano ballad to a cosmic processional with poignant bass lines that build and recess like the ocean tides. All songs have been mastered for...

Platonos, Lena

Sun Masks

Dark Entries

***Lena Platonos is a Greek musician, pianist and music composer. One of the pioneers of Greek electronic music, she remains active today. Lena was born in Heraklion, Crete, and grew up in Athens. She began learning how to play the piano at the age of two and became a professional pianist before turning eighteen. Soon afterwards, she received a scholarship to study in the the Berlin and Vienna Academies , where she was exposed to jazz, rock and Middle Eastern music. She returned to Greece in the late 70’s and began working with the Hellenic Broadcasting Corporation.  Released in 1984, ‘Μάσκες Ηλίου’ (‘Sun Masks’) was Lena Platonos’ first record to feature her own words and vocals. All instruments were performed by Lena herself.. ‘Sun Masks’ was inspired by Argentine writer, Julio Cortázar as well as the film ‘The Wall’ by Pink Floyd. "I began to reverse my thought process, to let melodies fade out, to turn to minimalism, to experiment on my Yamaha C60 synthesizer and a variety of “boxes” which I used to change the sound of my voice as well as the sound of the synthesizer” says Lena. The album featured experiments with different sounds and a new batch of electronic equipment, such as the legendary Roland TR 808 drum machine. Lena narrates each song in deadpan fashion, skillfully reciting her surreal Greek poetry. Her lyrics deal with the futility of love, the gap of human relationships, consumerist alienation in the bourgeois lifestyle of the 1980s.