Nothing - Darkside: Review
Review by Lavender:
Darkside is the project of prolific singer and producer Nicolas Jaar alongside multi-instrumentalist Dave Harrington. The project's inception actually dates back to the earliest days of Jaar's acclaimed career and the pair's debut album together was released in 2013. Following a long dormant period, the band returned in 2021 with a second album called Spiral, which I thought was every bit as good as their debut if not better. That's why I was excited to see the wait for a third release taking just half the time and went into Nothing expecting the pair to keep all their momentum up.
Darkside has always been a strange and difficult to define project. They're probably best described as art rock but with a production and sometimes even compositional slant inspired by Jaar's more electronica-oriented projects. But even with that premise, Nothing is by FAR the pair's weirdest and most difficult to define album yet. The project jumps all over the place sonically and the compositions sometimes give off the impression that they're entirely different pieces of music just strung together at random.
The singles pretty much all worked to predict this stylistic shift. That started with the deeply bizarre "Graucha Max" last year which I've been on quite a journey with. After initially liking it, the complete nonsensical nature of everything it serves up started to strike me in a strange way by the end of the year. But within the context of the record I can't say I really mind it all that much and it has specific portions I really enjoy. I had no such reservations about the next single "S.N.C" which I loved from the moment I first heard it and I still think it's the best song on the album. Similarly, I enjoyed "Are You Tired?" whose individual parts again make little sense together. But even with that, I think the shift into shimmering brightness that sounds like an Avalanches song out of nowhere is extremely welcome and pulled off well.
There are also some deep cuts that live up to that level of intrigue. "American References" is a change of pace whose vocals are actually as reserved as the instrumental, unlike the intensity of the singing across the rest of the record. The lyrics on the album don't typically stand out all that much because they're impossible to make out, but after translating over the words to this song, the results are surprisingly ominous and add to the track's unsettling tone. "Hell Suite Pt. 1" serves up the other relaxed vocal performance on the record flanked by gentle swaying strings. It's a good moment and to say it contrasts with Pt. 2 would be an understatement.
Speaking of, this record had a 4th single, "Hell Suite Pt. 2," and unfortunately, it's absolutely unbearable. The song combines a gentle, somewhat lifeless instrumental, whose only real notable moment is its cymbal crashes with an absolutely ugly garish vocal performance that doesn't fit at all. I probably wouldn't love the individual pieces on their own and together they're awful. Thankfully the weaker deep cuts here are typically more boring than outright bad. Although there is an exception. The opener "SLAU" is every bit as unlistenable as "Pt.2" with wild wailing vocals that belong over a noise song not these slick grooves.
While I certainly admire the willingness of Nicolas and Dave to experiment with their third album as Darkside, the results are more muddled than either of its predecessors. It isn't just that some of those indulgent moments blow up in the record's face, but also that it isn't willing to commit to its very best ideas. Too many of these tracks feature the same kind of awe-inspiring moments I've come to expect from the band, except this time they're slipped into a weird series of disjointed passages masquerading as a song. It's actually a testament to the talent shared between the two members that the resulting record is still more good than bad despite its flaws. Even then, it's a noticeable slide from their first two records. 6/10
Check out my review of Father John Misty's Mahashmashana
