Darkside an unlikely collaboration where electronica meets psychedelic blues

A FEW YEARS AGO, while studying comparative literature at Brown University on Rhode Island, the American-Chilean electronic music producer Nicolas Jaar befriended a guitarist and multi-instrumentalist named Dave Harrington.

Jaar, who had just released his debut album, Space is the Only Noise, to wide critical acclaim, was looking for band members to tour with, and Harrington was an obvious choice. Before long they began working on new music together, and the Darkside project was born.

"Dave and I developed this vocabulary while playing my music that was exciting new territory for the both of us," Jaar says from Europe ahead of the Darkside show in Hong Kong on April 8. "We had these new ideas that we couldn't have formed by ourselves. It was a combination of his music, his inspirations, and his vibe. We decided to combine these things in the studio, not just the live environment. We felt that playing it on stage was one thing, but if we did it from scratch we knew it could be really interesting. Two years later we ended up putting out [their 2013 debut album] Psychic."

Anyone who has tried to collaborate knows it isn't easy. As Jaar maintains, it involves a lot more than just music: "It's also a human thing. The person has to be a friend, as well as a good co-worker. They have to work as hard as you do."

He goes on to praise the influence and input of Harrington, whom he describes as "the only person" he would go on this journey with. Read the liner notes of Psychic and it's clear they share musical responsibilities. And while there was a concern that many would see Jaar as the driving force, considering his greater fame, he points out that once people see Darkside live they'll understand the union better.

"Darkside is very collaborative by nature. It's something performed between two people, and not on our own. It only exists because of two people working together. That's the beauty of it."

As for Psychic itself, it's a hybrid of electronica and psychedelic blues, with the guitar elements and vocals more present than in any previous record Jaar has released. It's a slow burner and difficult to navigate at times, which is in keeping with the way the project was gestated.