Psychic

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.

At just eight tracks long, it should be a brief encounter. But many of these cuts, such as the loose-limbed “Paper Trails,” are bottomless troves, opening up and unravelling on every listen. And while its creators may disagree on categorization, one thing’s for sure: whatever Psychic is, it’s fascinating.