Experimental music duo, Darkside, played to a sold-out crowd of Nicolas Jaar lookalikes and devotees at their 9:30 Club debut last Wednesday alongside opener, High Water.
As a unit, electronic producer Nicolas Jaar and guitarist Dave Harrington fuse their sounds to create an experimental marriage between electronic and rock. Reflecting on their 2013 release Psychic, Jaar and Harrington are quoted respectively: “‘I thought I was making a dance record.’ ‘I thought I was making a rock record.’ ‘We both failed.’â€
The two do not fail, however, at creating a palpable aesthetic. Their namesake was taken quite literally in the visual presentation of the space: the venue was shrouded in darkness, save for a few spotlights creating shadows and silhouettes among the crowd.  A steady stream of  fog cascaded from the stage. The minimalist light show–simply a mirror creating an eclipse panning over the venue–delighted the audience.
The foggy aesthetic integrated beautifully with the duo’s performance. Darkside built a soft start with “Freak, Go Home,†but revved up the energy using deep subs that vibrated bodies on the ground floor. Jaar and Harrington guided each other, frequently locking gazes, while Jaar multitasked behind his laptop-synth-keyboard set-up and Harrington screeched and crooned his guitar.
Darkside amplified the crowd’s giddiness by playing up the dance floor-friendly moments of their tracks. That giddiness spilled into the soft moments of their set where the constant chatter of the audience competed with Jaar brewing the next build. This became the event’s sole nuisance–the crowd seemed to read these deconstructed moments as non-essential to the overall live experience.
Still, a restless audience could not detract from their moving performance. From the opening to the encore, Darkside’s ability to translate Psychic into an experience more accessible for live listening left an impression of intrigue and wonder.