DARKSIDE

DARKSIDE is a trio consisting of Chilean electronic musician & vocalist Nicolás Jaar, American multi– instrumentalist Dave Harrington, and drummer and Sensory Percussion founder Tlacael Esparza. Having met while studying in Providence, Harrington and Jaar spent a summer spent touring in support of Jaar’s debut album Space Is Only Noise, and began writing together as DARKSIDE, releasing their critically acclaimed debut album Psychic on Matador Records in October 2013. Psychic 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, Jaar released a string of acclaimed solo albums under his own name and his dance-oriented Against All Logic alias. The Chilean artist left his adopted home base of New York for a more nomadic existence overseas. He scored film soundtracks, produced for FKA Twigs, and taught sound-editing and listening workshops throughout the Middle East, Europe, and Latin America.

Indicative of his roots in the New York avant-jazz scene, Harrington pursued a similarly left-hand path. An intuitive player somewhere between John McLaughlin and Jerry Garcia, the guitarist and multi-instrumentalist moved to the West Coast and immediately became a linchpin of the L.A underground. He’s become one of the most prolific and imaginative experimentalists of his generation, leading his own group, playing in various other ensembles, and co-founding America’s new last great rock band, Taper’s Choice (a jam outfit formed with members of Real Estate and Vampire Weekend).

In the fall of 2022, DARKSIDE booked a series of shows to reintroduce themselves as a live entity for the first time in eight years, following their acclaimed second album Spiral, released in 2021 during the global pandemic. To prep for their return, DARKSIDE rented a storefront in northeast Los Angeles. Their friend and longtime collaborator Tlacael Esparza joined as a full-time member, fundamentally changing the sound and spirit of the band.

Nothing, the third album from DARKSIDE, arrived in 2025; nine transmissions of negative space, telepathic seance, and spectral improvisation. The first DARKSIDE album written as a trio, it reflects a search for form borne out of spontaneous jams, acoustic riffing, and digital levitations.

“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