SUCH BEAUTIFUL FLOWERS Such Beautiful Flowers is a relatively new Flemish electro project that is both melancholic and danceable. However, the man behind the one-man project has a long history. In a previous life, he sang in the handcore group Midnight Souls. He will soon perform at BIMfest and at the Dark Entries Nights. Donny Woestenborghs does everything DIY, on his own, and told us more about his project in the following conversation. Hello Donny. You have a musical project called Such Beautiful Flowers. I'm intrigued to know why you chose that name. What does the name Such Beautiful Flowers mean? Every child deserves a name and so does every new project you start.You then look for something that, firstly, has not already been occupied by ten other artists, and, secondly, encompasses the entirety of what you want to say, but still leaves sufficient room for growth. Such Beautiful Flowers was a concept I had in my head for a long time.Actually, the term comes from the 1922 silent film 'Nosferatu'. The first sentences ‘spoken’ in the film are ‘Such beautiful flowers, why did you kill them?’, although this depends on the version you watch. All the tragic romance and romantic tragedy that arises from Bram Stoker’s book is hidden in those two sentences. A story of love, lust, desire, duality, loneliness, isolation... I could agree with that. You now make quite poetic electro, while you used to be the singer of the much heavier hardcore group Midnight Souls. That is quite a transition, even though you are not the only one making this evolution. What attracted you to electro? Is that quite a transition? Don't know. For me there was never much difference between The Sex Pistols and Fad Gadget or Front 242. They're both punk, just with different instruments. Midnight Souls was often the outsider in the hardcore scene, as we did not really participate in the typical clichés of the genre. In our tour bus, you could hear My Bloody Valentine and New Order more often than Minor Threat or Black Flag. The first music that really touched me was on ‘borrowed’ New Beat tapes from older brothers that we exchanged in primary school. MTV exposed me to The Cure, Depeche Mode, and a whole host of artists that had a major impact on a child of the 80s.So I'm actually not surprised that Such Beautiful Flowers sounds the way it does. - 22 - How and why did you decide to create a solo electro project? The end of Midnight Souls was prefaced by two things. The feeling that the story had been told and the fact that not everyone had the time or motivation to fully commit to it.We were at that fragile tipping point where jobs and relationships might have to shift in order to continue to grow. But an artist doesn't stop creating, so after a while, ideas started to bubble up and I started looking for people to start something new with. However, once you reach a certain age you quickly realise that it is difficult to find people with the same vision and commitment. After a few false starts with other individuals, I decided to interpret the DIY concept literally. I also noticed that I wanted to make music more than ever, free from compromises or concessions, in a new environment, separate from everything that came before. I feel like you put a lot of thought into your lyrics. Can you tell us a little more about what you're trying to convey and the topics you like to cover in your writing? In Midnight Souls I was the singer, so the pen has always been my first instrument. I find it difficult to point out themes in this context, because I always feel like I'm writing about everything and nothing at the same time. Words appear and lead to sentences and often the meaning is only clarified at the end of the process. Even
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