It’s an effort that not only highlights both Jaar and Harrington’s individual talents, but also how, together, Darkside can create a work of genius.
Though Psychic is the kind of immense and immersive experience typically described as “monolithic”, Jaar and Harrington ensure it’s more like the bubble gracing its cover—translucent and dense, electrified and organic, holding a form while constantly being prodded into new shapes.
Behind the darkness, Psychic is a relatively light-hearted exercise: Two exceedingly talented craftsmen going for a joyride in their spaceship and inviting you to tag along in the back seat.
Field recordings, earthly elements, human murmurs and heavy breathing mix seamlessly with synthesizers, drums and keyboards to produce a meditative enlightenment, with Jaar and Harrington creating an album based on opposites, successfully uniting the natural with the unnatural.
Electronic in the loosest, most deformed sense, 'Psychic' rips up convention from the seams to the centre.
‘Psychic’ is perfectly executed, impenetrable. Merely listening is impossible. It forces itself upon you.
It's an album that sounds as though it was conceived by a bunch of mad scientists, pouring in a dash of blues, some jazz, and some special Jaar minimal formula, while ripping up conventions into as many pieces as it can before strutting away with such confidence and swagger that it's hard not admire this confusing yet infectious creature.
The pair's influences range from Dark Prince-era Miles Davis material to Portishead's Dummy (see "Metatron") to dark disco ("The Only Shrine I've Seen") to even a few licks of Portuguese fado, all of it spare but sensuous — mood music for watching e-cig vapor curl.
Jaar and Harrington have figured out how to turn the lowbrow into something both highbrow and extremely enjoyable.
If Psychic only sporadically reaches the heights of Jaar's past work, it's down to the album's somewhat vague tone.
At most, these heavy-lidded meanderings through post-punk, Balearic dippiness and ’80s synth weirditude might pass muster with the very last survivors in a Sunday lunchtime club.
The amount of distance Jaar and Harrington put between the disparate elements themselves makes so much compositional sense that the album floats by like a strange, faraway dream.
Psychic simply doesn’t leave a lasting memory when one considers the work as a whole.
The short-lived DARKSIDE have created one of the most clever fusions of genres of the decade with "Psychic". It takes more than just a listen to appreciate Jaar and Harrington's work, with amazing production, distinctive textures, great instrumentation and tight structuring.
Fav Tracks: Freak, Go Home; Golden Arrow; Paper Trails; The Only Shrine I've Seen; Heart
Least Fav Track: Sitra
Score:
9.3
Outstanding
Yes this album might test your patience, but those who put in the repeated listens will be rewarded greatly.
Darkside is now disbanded, but last year, Dave Harrington and Nicholas Jaar left us a great album. Psychic is a consistent and powerful record that embraces the listener and doesn't let go. The mix of ambient, techno, experimentalism and even blues makes this a great listen, while Jaar's subtle production and Harrington delayed-reverbed guitar notes leaves you asking for more. An album worth many listens.
This is an album that I thought I would enjoy more after I had familiarized myself with electronic music and understanding its exploration of the soullessness of a machine. I was expecting to be able to appreciate its desolate and slightly psychedelic soundscape, as that kind of "thing" appeals to me nowadays. I was happy when I saw I had time today to give this a relisten, after a year or two from my very first.
My happiness was quickly evaporated when I noticed how disgustingly ... read more
I mean, whether this album is worth listening to from front to back or not is up for debate, as some songs are pretty formless and unsure of how to spend most of their runtime, but for me, this was a pretty satisfying collection of chill, left-field Ambient Pop tracks with an electronic twist
The production on here from the goat Nicolas Jaar and Dave Harrington is next level, bringing their usual trademark styles but with more of a alien presentation to it, resulting in a series of tracks that ... read more
Thank you videogamedunkey for releasing the video "Relaxing Space Safari" on the 9th of December, 2014. Thanks to this video I was introduced to Metatron by DARKSIDE. I was immediately enamoured and rushed to listen to the album. Otherworldly stuff. A soul twisting and mesmerising experience, it's a project I get lost in time and time again. Love this record.
1 | Golden Arrow 11:20 | 86 |
2 | Sitra 1:22 | 72 |
3 | Heart 4:57 | 83 |
4 | Paper Trails 4:49 | 84 |
5 | The Only Shrine I've Seen 7:55 | 84 |
6 | Freak, Go Home 6:36 | 89 |
7 | Greek Light 2:54 | 78 |
8 | Metatron 5:07 | 86 |
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