DARKSIDE played Music Hall of Williamsburg (Show 6)

DARKSIDE wrapped up their three night, six set stint at Music Hall of Williamsburg on Friday night with a dazzling show that broke curfew and found the band full of joy and playing with esteemed pride.

Dave Harrington and Nicolas Jaar's now long-running project known as DARKSIDE has made it past the one-off album, the uneven follow-up, and the redeeming third record and have emerged as a band (now including drummer Tlacael Esparza) that can expand their psychedelic sound past the jam band stage and towards something even more fascinating. Entering to a stage basked in crimson red light and fog, the trio slowly began to conjure up some sound, slowly adding droplets of texture bits at a time, piecing together the fabric of their music that would soon blossom into rich and inventive tunes that had everyone under their spell, letting loose and falling deep into their groove. Jaar's warbled vocals were accompanied by shadowy echoes that were pierced by Harrington's needling guitar work. Slicing and dicing the songs with single strands of shredding notes, Harrington used his guitar to cut through the thick layers of Jaar's bass-heavy electronics while Esparza offered up loose, baggy rhythms, the free flowing natures of his beats giving the others the room to extend their own melodies making for some appeasing jams that had the crowd fully engaged (even if a lot of the folks around me insisted on carrying on conversations throughout the night, learn som etiquette, y'all). The night began with "Narrow Road" off their sophomore effort Spiral and the remainder of the night would keep their debut out of the mix until the encore. After the long, slow build to intro the late night set (the band took to the stage around 11:20), the band started to feel the momentum and hit their stride with "Lawmaker," their extended grooves twisting into wild solos from Harrington and impressive responses from Jaar as well. Together, the trio's ability to take these studio jams and stretch them into such sprawling and winding hits is truly something to behold. As Harrington waves his guitar to ring out a note on one side, Esparza holds things just loose enough to never fully collapse, but gives each tune the necessary sway it needs. The lights began to take off and the night peaked when they dropped into "Are You Tired? (Keep on Singing)," the soloing here the top tier moment of the night that unleashed the trio into a free fall, their jamming on a new level that left us all bewildered and fully enamored with everything coming at us from the stage. One-off single "Ecdysis" was a fun surprise and by the end of the set, the band was accompanied by saxophonist Will Epstein which really pushed things up a notch. There were moments that felt straight out of a '70s Miles Davis fusion set, the band piling on the layers of liquid crystal electronics over the already heady funk of guitar and drums. "We're breaking the encore to do one more song," Harrington said as the trio returned after a bit of a longer break than you might expect for an encore, but as they picked up their gear and rolled into "Metaron" from their debut album, giving us one last feast of their riches as they sparkled for one final moment as they closed out their time in New York leaving it all out on stage.

Set list:

01 "Narrow Road"
02 "Lawmaker"
03 "Hell suite, Pt. I"
04 "Are You Tired? (Keep on Singing)"
05 "American References" (with Will Epstein)
06 "Ecdysis!" (with Will Epstein)
07 "Fifth Regiment" (with Will Epstein)
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08 "Metatron"