ATLAS Franklin Alexander adores the work of surrealist US filmmaker David Lynch.
Another favourite is Alejandro Jodorowsky's 1973 avant-garde classic The Holy Mountain, which The Beatles' John Lennon famously contributed US $1 million towards.
Both were influences for the Newcastle electronic-indie artist's video for his latest single, Young Love.
Whether its a track-suited man brandishing a machete in front of a '70s Celica, or a woman in a swimsuit and high heels riding an exercise bike in a backyard or Atlas Franklin Alexander, himself, with lime green hair and a blue singlet feeding a hawk chicken meat, Young Love is pure surrealism.
"I really wanted to have a large bird of prey just because I think they're really magnificent and beautiful creatures," he said.
"Just having a friend with that beautiful old '70s Celica doing burnouts was another strange aspect to add into the video.
"Again, it's just creating that weird David Lynch-esque universe."
Atlas Franklin Alexander - real name Pete Stals - has long held an interest in film, but it wasn't until his last single, Crave, earlier this year that he decided to take full creative control of his video clips.
"I'm just a lover of film," Stals said. "It got to the point where in the past with my recording and writing process, I'd write, record, mix, master and I've just started directing videos too, so it's 100 per cent DIY.
"It's not like you're relying on anyone else. It's just up to you to do it and then you can get your mates together and get stuff done.
"You're not waiting around for someone to write back to an email. You just smash it out."
Stals first emerged on the Newcastle music scene almost two decades ago with punk band The Common Code, who played at the inaugural Groovin' The Moo in 2005.
Then in the late 2000s he fronted post-punk band The Protectors before he spent more than a decade overseas, travelling throughout Europe and Asia.
The COVID pandemic brought Stals back to Newcastle and led to the creation of his Atlas Franklin Alexander moniker for his ambient bedroom pop.
In 2021 he released the six-track EP Enter Echo, which Stals describes as "experimental and way more atmospheric and ambient and strange."
Young Love also carries electronic elements - namely Stals' auto-tuned vocal - but it's a more structured pop song, reminiscent of early '80s new-wave legends like The Cure, Television and New Order.
The anthemic hook of "young love, it takes my breath away," is the clincher.
"The actual song is about overcoming adversity and finding the resilience to get back up and pick up the pieces and keep on moving forward," he said.
"It's about finding the inner strength to keep on going when you're whole life is falling apart."
Both Young Love and Crave will appear on Atlas Franklin Alexander's second EP, due for release early in the new year.
"Writing music it's like a form of therapy for me," he said. "It's almost like writing into a diary, but a bit more cryptic.
"It's ever-changing and evolving. I'm always trying to make something new and different to what I've done previously.
"It's always gonna be an ever-evolving process for me."
Atlas Franklin Alexander supports Velvet Trip at the King Street Warehouse on Friday.
