Plastic Flowers | |
---|---|
![]() Plastic Flowers live in Berlin, 2014 | |
Born | Georgios Samaras Thessaloniki, Greece |
Education | Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (BA) King's College London (MA, PhD) |
Notable work |
|
Style | Dream pop, electronic, experimental |
Website | gsamaras |
Georgios Samaras, better known as Plastic Flowers, is a Greek songwriter and academic at King's College London, [1] who has released three full-length studio albums: Evergreen in 2014, [2] [3] Heavenly in 2016 [4] [5] and Absent Forever in 2017. [6]
Georgios started recording music on a TASCAM Multi-track and released a series of bedroom pop influenced EPs that have received praise for their lo-fi touch. [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12] [13] [14] [15]
In 2014 his debut album Evergreen was released through Inner Ear Records, [16] and Crash Symbols [17] in Europe and the United States respectively. He later moved to London [18] and recorded his second full-length album Heavenly [19] in November 2015, [20] [21] and Absent Forever in 2017, both released via The Native Sound and distributed by Warner.
He became the first Greek act ever to perform at South by Southwest. [22] [23] He has also toured USA and Europe and performed live at the Royal Academy of Arts, [24] Fun Fun Fun Fest, Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Center, [25] Athens Concert Hall and Thessaloniki Concert Hall, [26] and shared the stage with Bonobo, A.R.Kane, Emancipator, Still Corners and others.
On his debut album Evergreen he collaborated with Keep Shelly in Athens [27] and NY-based artist and painter Ed Askew, who also painted the album cover for Heavenly. [28]
In 2012, Plastic Flowers sampled Theodoros Pangalos' controversial ministerial statement "We [government and citizens] fooled away the money together" in Sinking Ship/Vanished Crew. [29]
He is an Assistant Professor of Public Policy at King's College London. [30] [31] As an undergraduate studying German at Aristotle University of Thessaloniki between 2009 and 2014, Samaras read modern and contemporary literature. He later obtained a Master's degree in Education Policy, and a PhD both from King's College London, [32] where he investigated the rise of far-right extremism in Greece during the fiscal crisis. [33] He often contributes to Greek newspapers Kathimerini [34] and Efimerida ton Syntakton, [35] and Euronews. [36]
In June 2020, during the Black Lives Matter protests in London, he started a campaign against a local school in West Hampstead, [37] [38] named after slaver William Beckford. The campaign received coverage from national and local media, and support from British actress Emma Thompson [39] resulting in a name change. [40]
{{cite web}}
: |first2=
has generic name (help)