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The Darcys is the ever-evolving musical project formed by Toronto’s Jason Couse and Wes Marskell. For The Darcys, each album is an event, accompanied by vibrant imagery and playful lyrics, their albums are distinct eras designed to explore the duo’s creative headspace. With “Running For The Hills,” The Darcys offer a glimpse into their next era, a forthcoming EP due in 2022. The song is powerful and triumphant with its sidewinding guitar riff, explosive chorus, and hopeful lyrics about looking forward, not back. “I’m well aware that the bright lights of LA can often be a mirage, but I needed to live it for myself,” says Marskell, of the pop-minded alt-rock track that was influenced by the duo’s move from Toronto to Los Angeles. Over the past 10 years, the duo have released five diverse and critically acclaimed albums, have been nominated for a JUNO Award, Polaris Prize, MMVA, and recently launched “The Glory Days” podcast, an NFT, and a grant program for emerging Canadian artists.
The Darcys arrived on the Toronto music scene in 2011 when their scrappy self-titled debut and their cheeky re-imagination of Steely Dan’s AJA were released less than a year apart. The Toronto Star described The Darcys as “pathologically ambitious and hi-fi-minded” as their two critically acclaimed indie releases established the duo as distinct players in the Canadian music scene defined by their DIY ethos that persists to this day.
2014‘s Warring, the band’s first major release with Toronto’s Arts & Crafts spawned a 50-date worldwide tour in support of Bombay Bicycle Club. The album’s standout single, “The River,” landed a prominent feature in FOX’s hit series Lucifer. Esquire declared, “The Darcys embody the sort of recklessly bold artistic ambition that ruled rock music in the ‘70s but is significantly harder to find today,” while The Globe & Mail deemed the band, “young art-rock wonders.”
In 2016, the Red Bull Sound Select program sent The Darcys to New Zealand to work on material for what would eventually become their next album, 2016’s Centerfold. Helmed by GRAMMY award winning producer Shawn Everett (Alabama Shakes, The Killers) and Matty Green (Ed Sheeran, Dua Lipa), the project was recorded in Auckland, Toronto and Los Angeles. Described by NPR as having a, “hooky sheen grounded by smart lyrics and heart,” Centerfold marked the band’s metamorphosis from textured guitar-driven alt-rock to infectious pop-rock. Noisey certified the album as, "primed for mass consumption,” with the single “Miracle” reaching #14 on Alternative radio, #1 on SiriusXM ‘The Verge’, and was featured in numerous television shows, feature films and a major telecom commercial.
In 2017, the duo announced their newfound independence by launching The Darcys Inc. Records. The label's first release, “Just Here with My Friends,” featuring Leah Fay of July Talk, was lauded as a, “catchy, pop-synth contender for the song of summer,” by FASHION. The song quickly went to #1 on CBC’s Top 20, #14 on the North American college radio charts and spent 15 weeks inside the Top 30 at Alternative radio in Canada. Next came the sensual “Chasing the Fall,” with an accompanying music video starring the effervescent drag performer Regina Gently, which landed at #58 on MUCH Music’s ‘Top 100 Videos of 2018,’ a release that continues to be the duo’s most streamed song.
After a string of successful single releases that racked up over 8 million+ Spotify plays alone, The Darcys’s sonic evolution continued with the self-produced Fear & Loneliness. The duo found themselves drawn to the romance of Hollywood’s glory days and the contrasting pitfalls of fortune and fame. “Our aim was to create something surreal; something that blurs the lines between fact and fiction, where a backlot cowboy, who is essentially a hybrid of Jason and I, buys into the dream and lives to tell his story,” Marskell said. American Songwriter identified the newfound maturity in the duo’s songwriting throughout Fear & Loneliness, saying “sometimes, it takes years for a band to come fully into their own ─ and hello world, The Darcys have arrived!” Lead single “Look Me in The Eyes” was a radio success: #1 Most Added Single on North American College Radio (NACC). Songs From Fear & Loneliness were also included in numerous best of lists including SiriusXM’s Top 40, Amazon Music’s and YouTube Music’s Top Alternative of 2020. In the sync world, “Chasing The Fall” and “Off The Deep” were placed in FX’s Nine Films About Technology which also saw the duo featured prominently in acting roles.
In 2021, The Darcys look to the future. “Running For The Hills” is just the beginning. Torontonians for life, The Darcys now reside in Los Angeles, California.
