Darkstar (Aidan Whalley and James Young) have, since their debut record in 2010, positioned themselves as key voices in the dance scene with their unique and idiosyncratic take on electronic pop. On 'Wolf', the first new music from Darkstar since their 2015's Foam Island record, the duo pair hypnotic shoegaze vocals with stripped back club-focused sounds, exposing a fragment of what’s to come.
Listen to the track here
Since their critically acclaimed last album Foam Island (2015), Darkstar have worked with the likes of Actress, Wild Beasts and Zomby. They have also released music with Empress Of (XL) and Gaika, collaborating with director Lucy Luscombe and Random Acts for Channel 4, working on ground-breaking live dance performances with choreographer Holly Blakey (Micah Levi) and scoring the Palme d’Or nominated short film Dreamlands.
Darkstar continued their dedication to collaboration and were commissioned by PRS to create a piece for the New Music Biennial, as part of the 2017 City of Culture, which was performed at Royal Festival Hall with organist James McVinnie. This collaboration with McVinnie has since continued and saw Darkstar compose a new work for Organ Reframed festival which they performed together with the London Contemporary Orchestra in 2018 at Union Chapel. In 2019 they performed two of their new compositions at Queen Elizabeth Hall for Unclassified Live.
Alongside these, the band has worked with St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, in Minneapolis, Metal Liverpool, Arts Council England and Harthill Community centre to create an installation and performance piece with teens from migrant communities. The final performance, TRACKBED, was performed at the Barbican in London.
