DARKSIDE is an American rock band formed in Providence, Rhode Island in 2011. The group consists of Chilean electronic musician & vocalist Nicolás Jaar and American multi– instrumentalist Dave Harrington. The pair first met while studying in Providence through a mutual friend. After a summer touring Europe and Australia in support of Jaar’s breakthrough debut album Space Is Only Noise, they continued to write together, releasing their self–titled EP in 2012 and their critically acclaimed debut album Psychic on Matador Records in October 2013. The album was met with glowing reviews, including a 9.0 from Pitchfork and the New York Times calling it “the soundtrack to a lost David Lynch sci–fi movie.”

In the years that followed the Psychic tour in 2014, the musicians moved on parallel and occasionally intersecting paths. Jaar would release five albums under his name and two collections of club music as Against All Logic. Harrington worked as a producer and composer, releasing two albums with his Dave Harrington Group. During that time he also played some 300 shows in NYC and Brooklyn, becoming deeply entrenched with a wide–ranging community of improvisers and collaborators, performing and recording with Yuka Honda, Brian Chase, Ilhan Ersahin, Genesis Breyer P–Orridge, Joe Russo, Innov Gnawa, Angel Deradoorian, The Master Musicians of Jajouka, Nels Cline, and more.

In 2018 they reunited to begin work on what would become their second album — a project which would end up taking over two years to complete. Spiral was released in Summer 2021 to critical acclaim.

In summer 2023, amid a run of sold out EU shows, the band released Live at Spiral House, a loose and playful collection of jams culled from weeks of rehearsals in Los Angeles last summer. Joined by drummer and longtime collaborator Tlacael Esparza, the band took residence rehearsing and jamming after an 8–year hiatus. Jaar says: “When we decided to get the band back together with Tlac, we knew we needed a space where we could explore what that meant. After a couple of months of rehearsals, we started inviting friends and family to the space and many of these recordings share the fun and cozy spirit of that time.”
PRESS FOR DARSKIDE
“Darkside perform the high-wire act of making everything feel spontaneous and meticulously planned at the same time.” – Loud & Quiet
“translucent and dense, electrified and organic, holding a form while constantly being prodded into new shapes.” – Pitchfork
“It’s music which shatters easy genre classification. Is it “art-rock”, is it “electronica”? The joy of an album like Spiral is that it’s impossible to say.” – The Quietus