{"id":47229,"date":"2025-03-22T12:54:05","date_gmt":"2025-03-22T16:54:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/?p=47229"},"modified":"2025-03-22T12:54:05","modified_gmt":"2025-03-22T16:54:05","slug":"darkside-royale-3-17","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/2025\/03\/22\/darkside-royale-3-17\/","title":{"rendered":"Darkside @ Royale 3\/17"},"content":{"rendered":"

Photo credits: Brianna Benitez<\/p>\n

Review by Miguel Gonzales<\/p>\n

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An overwhelming assortment of cars line up trying to get by on Tremont Street, swerving and turning around through the hazed-filled skies during rush hour. The air was a bit damp after a small rain shower in the afternoon, and the temperature noticeably dropped. Once I got past Stuart Street and made my way to Royale, the fog cleared up and revealed a small line of people patiently waiting to see Darkside on a Monday evening.<\/span><\/p>\n

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The formation of Darkside began in Providence, Rhode Island, not too far from Boston, Mass. Originally a duo consisting of electronic music, Nicol\u00e1s Jaar and multi-instrumentalist Dave Harrington, both of whom met at Brown University, formed the duo as Harrington became a frequent collaborator during Jaar\u2019s beginnings as an electronic producer. Their debut EP as Darkside, released in 2011, was met with positive reception, excelling the duo\u2019s dynamic fusion of electronic music and rock-and-roll. Thereafter, the duo released a stellar debut via Matador Records in 2013, \u201cPsychic,\u201d which was a lightning-in-a-bottle moment for both Harrington and Jaar.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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Since then, they\u2019ve released their 2021 follow-up, \u201cSpiral,\u201d and a live album called \u201cLive at Spiral House\u201d in 2023. Darkside is now a trio, adding to their lineup drummer and percussionist Tlacael Esparza in 2022 and releasing their first album as a trio, \u201cNothing,\u201d this year via Matador Records. Embarking on their first full tour of North America in 11 years, Darkside\u2019s return and expansion as a trio has never felt so urgent and much needed.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Opening for Darkside around 8 p.m. was Brooklyn-based trombonist and composer Kalia Vandever, who is always a pleasure to see live. Having seen her open for Arooj Aftab, it\u2019s great to get the chance to see Vandever open for Darkside \u2013 her ambient-layered compositions, silky vocals and trombone playing dazzled the audience and left them silent, letting the sounds soar through the room. Vandever played \u201cRecollections from Shore\u201d and \u201cHubbard Road,\u201d which are some of my favorite pieces from her. I\u2019m really sad she didn\u2019t get much stage time (her set was delayed four minutes from a sound error), as I enjoy hearing her talk about what inspires her to create these pieces. Either way, you should see Kalia Vandever when you get the chance \u2014 she is truly an enchanting performer.<\/span><\/p>\n

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As Jaar, Harrington and Esparza walk on-stage around 9 p.m., the lights dim to pure darkness and begin to slowly fade in with a looming red as the trio quietly set up their equipment. Darkside starts their set with \u201cHell suite, Pt. I,\u201d a slow psychedelic-waltz. Jaar enunciates the beginning line softly \u201cWe\u2019re living in hell,\u201d in an eerily calm motion. Jaar sits beside his arrangement of keyboards and synthesizers, intensively staring at the audience looking from his left to right, occasionally raising his voice. Esparza\u2019s minimal percussion is impactful \u2013 the shuttering hi-hats, occasional ride and snare hits emphasize the waltz while Harrington\u2019s effect-heavy guitar tones and Jaar\u2019s bloated bass carry the weight. It\u2019s texturally rich, and moves ominously where you can\u2019t help but be on your feet.<\/span><\/p>\n

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They don\u2019t lose their touch on the swift, warbling atmosphere for their two hour set. They keep things steady and intoxicatingly weary playing new songs from \u201cNothing,\u201d along with pulsating hitters from their catalogue and long-winded improvisational sections that are just as enticing. Harrington is tangled around large amps and a complicated arrangement of pedalboards \u2013 riffing, shredding and playing these beautiful blues guitar solos entangled within dubby, psychedelic and ambient overtones. It\u2019s especially clear in Harrington\u2019s performance on \u201cLiberty Bell\u201d and \u201cA1,\u201d his Gibson guitar either twanging tastefully or is fed through a chopped-up looper matching the song rhythmically.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Esparza\u2019s percussive control is impressive too \u2013 he especially knows when to play out and sustain himself in particular moments. On \u201cSLAU,\u201d Esparza\u2019s hi-hat taps and occasional cymbal hits ring dainty in the air, meanwhile Esparza noticeably hits the floor tom and snare with a bit more force \u2013 not so much that it overpowers the already bumbling bass and Jaar\u2019s vocals. With the improvisational interludes the band includes in their setlist when transitioning into other songs, Esparza lets loose. The cymbals shimmer, the snare and toms gradually crescendo and the hi-hats spatter.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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This leaves Nicol\u00e0s Jaar, who is the unofficial ringleader of the band whose electronic touch melodically and texturally amplifies their already funky, hallucinogenic sound. Jaar in most of the set looks focused, attentively scrolling through his Macbook Air gearing up for each song \u2013 all of them are locked in, really. Jaar sits beneath a black microphone, either singing with a high-pitched effect in certain songs which allow him to soar, or sings in his regular low baritone tone where it’s purposefully flat and dramatic. His vocals can get unsettling and can peacefully drift, and Jaar\u2019s electronic synthesizers warrant cosmical moments showing how versatile Jaar really is.<\/span><\/p>\n

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The crowd claps after they leave the stage around 10:15 p.m., to which the band finishes off their set with a surprise encore. They end the night off with their galloping, distorted \u201cGraucha Max\u201d and 10-minute epic \u201cGolden Arrow,\u201d before sending the night away. Before jumping into \u201cMetatron\u201d prior to their encore, Jaar acknowledges the audience by thanking them for being here, that he and the band are grateful that they\u2019re still able to make music. Jaar goes on to acknowledge the anxious uncertainty and trouble our country is heading toward.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

An audience member shouts in the crowd, \u201cFree Palestine.\u201d Jaar retorts a few seconds later, \u201cOf course, it\u2019s Free Palestine! It\u2019s always been Free Palestine.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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While the audience and band simultaneously bob their heads together to some good music, smooth jams and psychedelia goodness \u2013 it\u2019s good to know everyone in the room feels rightfully anxious and worried about the state of the world. The one thing we have in common is we still have some hope all contained within the dancefloor \u2013 where we bob our heads, shake our arms around and move our legs together.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Photo credits: Brianna Benitez Review by Miguel Gonzales An overwhelming assortment of cars line up trying to get by on Tremont Street, swerving and turning around through the hazed-filled skies during rush hour. The air was a bit damp after a small rain shower in the afternoon, and the temperature noticeably dropped. Once I got […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":21925,"featured_media":47284,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1895,1525,1523,15],"tags":[2322,138],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47229"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/21925"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=47229"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47229\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":47286,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47229\/revisions\/47286"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/47284"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=47229"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=47229"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=47229"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}