Dreams of Snakes by Black Lotus (Interview 2026)

Edition Three – Week Three; Unit 3:

Written by: Mercedes Barreto

Introduction

Black Lotus: Where Darkness Becomes Art

Some music is designed simply to be heard. Other music creates a world of its own. Black Lotus belongs to the latter category.

Describing the project through a striking combination of avant-garde dark rock, gothic art metal, and noir pop, Black Lotus creates music that exists somewhere between darkness and beauty, atmosphere and intensity. The project’s own description—“songs from the prettier end of the nightmare”—captures that contrast particularly well.

Black Lotus has recently entered a particularly intriguing creative period with the forthcoming concept EP In a Room Full of Dreams. The project explores the mysterious connections between sound, dreams, memory, emotion, and synesthesia. Its first release, “Dreams of Snakes,” featuring Geert Coppens, introduced listeners to this surreal world, while “In a Room Full of Dreams” continues the exploration of how sound can evoke colors, images, memories, and sensations.

Rather than treating darkness simply as an aesthetic, Black Lotus uses it as a creative space—a place where unusual ideas, emotional experiences, theatrical imagery, and sound can intersect.

We caught up with Black Lotus to discuss the origins of the project, the relationship between music and visual art, the inspiration behind In a Room Full of Dreams, the creative process, collaboration, and the continuing evolution of this distinctive musical world.

Short Review

Black Lotus: The Beautiful Side of the Nightmare

There is something immediately cinematic about Black Lotus. The project does not appear interested in choosing between beauty and darkness—instead, it places the two directly beside one another.

Drawing from dark rock, gothic art metal, noir pop, and experimental sensibilities, Black Lotus creates an atmosphere that feels mysterious without becoming inaccessible. The music has a theatrical quality, but beneath the imagery is a strong emotional core.

The recent In a Room Full of Dreams project takes that atmosphere even further, exploring synesthesia and the unusual ways that sound can interact with color, memory, dreams, and emotion. “Dreams of Snakes,” featuring Geert Coppens, serves as an evocative introduction to this concept, while the subsequent work expands the dreamlike world surrounding the project.

What makes Black Lotus compelling is the willingness to embrace ambiguity. The music doesn’t necessarily tell the listener exactly what to see or feel. Instead, it opens the door to a darker, stranger, more visually imaginative space—and lets the listener step inside.

Black Lotus is a project where atmosphere becomes storytelling, darkness becomes texture, and the nightmare can occasionally be beautiful.

Q&A

For readers discovering Black Lotus for the first time, how would you describe the project and the world you are creating through the music?

“Black Lotus began as a collaboration between me and co-founder Madeleine Moriand, two artists from different backgrounds who shared an interest in creating music that didn’t fit neatly into one genre. We had a lot of fun experimenting with contrasting influences, blending rock, metal, punk, dark pop, K-pop, and Asian musical elements into something of our own. Our early songs, including “Pop My Bubbles,” featured some unusual combinations, with the sitar becoming a recognizable part of our sound. Over time, we moved further into gothic rock and metal, but our gothic roots and love of genre-bending have remained constant.

Our latest project, In a Room Full of Dreams, takes us somewhere quite different through my collaboration with Belgian musician Geert Coppens. We’re blending darkwave, dark synthpop, dark synthwave, and alternative pop to create a dreamy, sometimes surreal musical world where perception and reality don’t always follow the usual rules. From the dreamlike, repetitive sounds of “Dreams of Snakes” to the soft, whispery vocals and floating atmosphere of “In a Room Full of Dreams,” each song explores that world a little differently. Even “Room 312″ takes an unexpected turn into jazz-pop and dark cabaret. It’s a musical journey through shifting perceptions and alternative realities, where not only colour, but even the sounds themselves seem to change shape along the way.”

You describe Black Lotus as “avant-garde dark rock, gothic art metal, and noir pop.” How did this combination of influences develop naturally within the project?

“We actually started out calling ourselves Black Lotus Project because we wanted something that could constantly evolve, both musically and visually. From the beginning, we imagined a performance-oriented project where each album could explore different genres, stories, and concepts, with the music, fashion aesthetic, imagery, and performances all becoming part of the experience.

Our earliest demos, The Age of Mythology and Wild Card, explored darker gothic and glam-metal sounds, post-hardcore, and even doom metal, fused with stronger Asian musical influences on the first demo. Later, Madeleine and I took things in a more playful direction with Bubble Trouble, mixing dark pop, punk, hip-hop, rap, and K-pop influences with our love of gothic and glam aesthetics.

We’ve always enjoyed seeing what happens when different musical worlds collide. Over time, storytelling and concept albums have become an increasingly important part of Black Lotus, but that original spirit of experimentation has never really changed. We like to think of each release as its own little world, with its own sound, personality, and surprises!”

The phrase “songs from the prettier end of the nightmare” is a fascinating description of your music. What does that phrase mean to you?

“I think it reflects both our music and our visually aesthetic identity. Madeleine and I have always enjoyed the more feminine, playful side of gothic culture, from pastel goth and emo styles to the theatrical glamour of glam metal. But there’s another side to Black Lotus too. We’re not afraid to explore darker or more difficult subjects in our songs, including sadness and the kinds of emotional struggles that younger listeners sometimes face.

At the same time, we love having fun with the music! Songs like “Wearing Our Crowns” reflect that more playful, experimental side of us. So, I suppose the prettier end of the nightmare is where all those contrasts meet: the darkness and the colour, the sadness and the fun, and a little glamour thrown in for good measure.”

What are some exciting up-and-coming releases to share?

“There’s plenty happening with Black Lotus right now. We’ve recently released “Room 312,” which takes a fun detour into jazz-pop and dark cabaret, while our concept EP, In a Room Full of Dreams, continues to take shape. There are also tracks like “When Sound Becomes Color” and “Synthesia,” a playful combination of synthesizer and synesthesia, exploring the connections between electronic sound and sensory perception.

Working with Geert Coppens on this project has been an incredible experience, and I’ve dreamed of it for a long time. It’s genuinely an honour to collaborate with someone whose musical background I admire so much. We share an enthusiasm for experimenting with sounds, and the creative energy between us makes seeing these musical ideas come to life especially exciting. One of the most exciting things to come out of this collaboration has been discovering even more possibilities for blending electronica with rock, metal, and pop. It’s a direction we’d love to explore further, bringing together the energy of guitars and heavier music with the atmosphere and experimentation of electronic sounds.”

Where can we hear more, and why should we?

“You can find Black Lotus on Spotify and all major streaming platforms, and follow us on Instagram for the latest news and releases.

And why should you listen? Well, we like to think we’re making a little musical history! It’s a collision of Geert Coppens’ decades of experience in music with the experimental world of Black Lotus, mixing tried-and-true influences with fresh sounds to create something new in the here and now. Add a little mystery, a few unexpected twists, and the fascinating world of synesthesia, and you never quite know where the music might take you. Come see how it all unfolds in In a Room Full of Dreams.”

Anything to add here?

“There’s more coming from Black Lotus! We’re also preparing our next full-length album, which heads back into heavier territory, blending glam metal, glam rock, post-hardcore, and post-punk with our signature gothic influences. Black Veil Brides have been an inspiration to Madeleine and me, both musically and aesthetically, and we’re excited to explore more of that theatrical glam-rock energy and screamo in this upcoming release.
In that sense, we identify with BVB’s noted genre-bending approach, as we’ve also enjoyed reshaping and blending musical styles over the years, although we’ve taken those influences in our own directions.

The new upcoming album is quite a departure from the dreamy electronic world of In a Room Full of Dreams, but that’s what keeps Black Lotus exciting for us. Each project brings something different to the table, and we’re looking forward to tuning up our guitars and bringing a little more glam and attitude to the next chapter.”