DARK SIDE OF LIGHT is a soundchild of the nouveau California scene. Natives, Nik Frost and Grant Conway birthed this tangerine slice of novel, tripped-out folk-hop to counteract the anxiety-filled hours of our new normal.
Conceived over the last four months as a distraction from the timeless nature of the New Normal, the duo was looking for new artists to listen to but found a landscape of music that repeated itself. Tired of searching for something fresh and new, they burrowed into a deep, sonic exploration to make a sound of their own. “We didn’t want to be a traditional band,” says Frost, “so we started writing from the genesis of beats and rhythm tracks that we thought were cool.” Conway is a drummer by nature and a producer/engineer by trade. Put this up against Frost, a singer/songwriter/DJ who’s worked with everyone from Malcolm McLaren to Photek, and the duo were bound to come up with something fresh and inspiring.
“I’d been working on a bunch of Stoner Rock stuff out in the desert with the Rancho De La Luna gang and started revisiting some of the stuff Goss (Chris Goss) had been doing with Unkle a couple years back,” Frost says. “This got me spinning Grant some tracks I’d done as a kid with the Liquid Sky crew in Germany and BOOM, we had a vibe.”
Frost calls on melodies, harmonies and psychedelic lyrics which harken back to everything from the early 70’s Robert Fripp-produced pop of The Roches to CSN&Y. Conway’s broken, poppy/nouveau trip-hop grooves never disappoint. As most of the songs originated from the beats, Conway’s playing shines through on every groove, never pretentious, true to the vibe, and never thirsty for attention.
Frost and Conway share programming/keyboard duties equally. The remarkable James Jamerson-esque bass tracks are performed by longtime Frost friend and collaborator, Ronnie Elvis James, while the sonically rich yet always groovy guitar tapestries are handled firmly by the innovative Joe Perez.
“We didn’t really know what we had or how seriously to take anything we’d done,” says Frost. “We sent a link out to some friends of ours and within a couple weeks KCRW’s Liza Richardson played ‘Summer Breeze’ on her Saturday night show and we realized that we had something special.”
From there, the band continued to release innovative and original singles and videos, from the controversial and powerful ballad Pull My Strings to the more upbeat dance number Hit Repeat - Downtempo, Trip-Hop, Drum-Driven Grooves continue to power unique Electronic Production giving Frost a Canvas to showcase his seemingly endless depth and range as a vocalist.
