Nothing

Darkside create a wholly modern mélange of psychedelia, art rock, Tropicalia, and house, among other styles. Experimental dance music producer Nicolas Jaar and his touring guitarist Dave Harrington formed Darkside as a duo and received much acclaim for their full-length studio debut, Psychic (2013), as well as their intense and sprawling concerts, documented on releases such as Psychic Live July 17 2014 (2020). After they made their seams less visible with Spiral (2021), they installed Tlacael Esparza, introduced on Live at Spiral House (2023). The release of "Graucha Max," Darkside's rambunctious first single as a trio, was coordinated with the start of an extensive cross-continental tour. The parent album Nothing (2025) appeared before the North American leg.

The original duo met while they were studying at Brown University. Harrington joined Jaar's live band, and they toured in support of Space Is Only Noise, Jaar's 2011 breakthrough album. The pair formed Darkside while on tour, and released a self-titled EP on the Clown and Sunset label in 2011. It contained three slow, hypnotic, and untitled grooves featuring slivers of Jaar's falsetto and Harrington's slightly bluesy flecks of guitar. The duo made their live debut that December at the Music Hall of Williamsburg. In 2013, they used the pseudonym Daftside and produced Random Access Memories Memories, a full reconstruction of Daft Punk's fourth studio album.

October 2013 saw the release of Darkside's full-length album Psychic on Jaar's Other People label in conjunction with indie stalwarts Matador. The record moved the project's sound forward drastically from their earlier work into more compositional song structures. However, they expanded these tracks into lengthy epics for their concerts, and gained a reputation as a stellar live act. The duo spent much of 2014 touring, but after releasing two songs ("What They Say" and "Gone Too Soon") on the Other People label compilation Work, Darkside played a final show at the Brooklyn Masonic Temple and went on an indefinite hiatus. Their remix of St. Vincent's "Digital Witness" and a concert DVD, Psychic Live, were both released in 2015. Psychic Live July 17 2014, a recording of a different gig from the same year, was issued in 2020.

Jaar and Harrington returned in July 2021 with Spiral, the evenly paced if creatively uninhibited result of a productive week spent in a rented New Jersey apartment and sporadic additional work over a much greater length of time. Darkside then became a trio with the addition of drummer Tlacael Esparza. They debuted the new lineup in June 2023 with Live at Spiral House, recorded at their Los Angeles rehearsal space. An expanded edition of Psychic was out four months later. "Graucha Max," their first single written as a trio, was released in October 2024, and coincided with the start of a tour across the U.K., Europe, and North America. Nothing, largely based on improvisational exploration, was issued the following February. ~ Andy Kellman & Paul Simpson