Overview
Now in his tenth year of making music, Nicolas Jaar was previously known for his 'blue-wave' minimal techno. But at a young 24 years, Jaar has already progressed in style. Darkside moves away from anything he's created on his lonesome. Collaborator Dave Harrington, a multi-instrumentalist from Brooklyn, might have previously said he prefers making music that's sad. But speaking from his hotel room in icy Oxford, Jaar concedes that Darkside isn't dark at all; it has an electro-psyche-jazz sound all of its own.
Right now, Darkside are in the UK as part of the Psychic world tour alongside their recently released debut album of the same name. Receiving rave reviews from both critics, and, well, ravers, Psychic scored two 'Best New Track' slots with Pitchfork after the 11-minute opener 'Golden Arrow' was released as a free download in August. But Jaar refuses to get carried away by critics and their reviews. Because, as he says, there'll always be those who love your music and others who hate it. For Jaar, it's about taking fans to a new place.
"The only hope for musicians is that we're communicating something," says Jaar, coming over all Alice in Wonderland. "I just hope that people are able to fall into the small worlds that we try to create."
Harrington originally played with Jaar as part of his touring live band. But after jamming together between gigs, the duo quickly morphed into Darkside back in 2011. Now they're back to where it all began — on tour — and Sydney and Melbourne are next on their list of places to wow.
Darkside are at their best when heard live. but there's no use in predicting how their sets will pan out. Though their drawn-out electronica is likely to have us fall down the rabbit hole, each of their performances are different. "We try to improvise every night because we're doing this so much, and we're playing so many shows," says Jaar of their live performances. "We feel like, if we change it up here and there every night we'll slowly get to a better understanding of what we're trying to say. And as musicians we're getting better and better."
Darkside's Psychic world tour has sold out shows across Europe. And since Jaar sold out his solo gigs at 2013's Sydney Festival, their Hi-Fi and Palace Theatre gigs are expected to go the same way. After all, in the year that's passed, the duo's evolving sounds have only garnered more fame.
And don't expect that to slow down any time soon. It appears we can expect even more from Darkside over the coming year. "We're hoping to write a new record," says Jaar. Sadly, they've not as yet begun writing: "We're thinking about it." For now we'll have to settle with Psychic and their upcoming live shows. But who are we kidding; we couldn't ask for more.
Darkside play Sydney's Hi-Fi on Wednesday, April 2, and Melbourne's Palace Theatre on Friday, April 4 (tickets for both via Oztix). Thanks to Modular, we have one double pass to give away in each city. To be in the running, subscribe to the Concrete Playground newsletter (if you haven't already), then email us with your name and address.
Sydney: win.sydney@concreteplayground.com.au
Melbourne: win.melbourne@concreteplayground.com.au
