Countdown to the Telepathic Windows Festival 2026 Vol. 1 // An Interview with DARKSOFT

• Thanks so much for the interview. Let’s trace the band’s roots and story.
  

Absolutely, happy to chat, thanks so much for the opportunity! Well, I’m a one-person project and I’ve been making demos in my bedroom since I was a teenager and never really stopped. Darksoft is my latest project, and I’ve been releasing tunes under that name since 2018. For live shows, I’ll get full bands together, and I’ve been incredibly lucky and grateful to have many friends support the project on stage and on tours throughout the years.

• What are Darksoft’s main influences and inspirations?

I’ll mention some musical influences below. Inspiration beyond that I suppose includes philosophy, universal truths and aphorisms, the repetitions of daily life versus the crushing inevitability of constant change, double chorus pedals, good coffee, science and technology, my kiddos and family and parents, a history in Seattle, the ambition to empower and inspire others, going on walks, and some other stuff from here and there and everywhere which includes somewhere and nowhere and all in between.

• How would you describe your sound?

Original songs that sound like something you’ve maybe heard before. It’s dream pop or shoegaze or jangle but if you don’t know what those microgenres are I’ll just say it’s like dreamy indie rock. It’s got 80s and 90s influences with a lot of layers, jangly reverby guitars, synths, moving bass and drums, and some guy singing at you in a soft stylized delivery.

• What do the words ‘Shoegaze’ and ‘Dream Pop’ mean to you?”
  

Walls of sound accentuated with glimmers of hope that remind me of undulating ocean waves peppered with some rainbows and occasionally metallic clangs and all in all it feels immersive and vibey. The tags are a convenient means to unite listeners, bands, and tastemakers, and while such labels inherently put us all in a box, they are also a nice way of getting some sort of “community” together (such as in the case of Telepathic Windows Fest happening in Washington, D.C. on June 20!).

• Tell us a little about your recording process and how you create your songs.
  

I’ve been collecting instruments and gear for a couple of decades and have a plug-and-play setup in my basement. My recording process is to record everything at home, part by part, layer by layer, song by song, in an ongoing way over many days and months. I typically have a full-length record that I’m building toward in a playlist and I’ll keep refining the tunes and parts a bit, removing or adding songs, and reordering them, until I feel like I’ve produced “something,” at which point I’ll send the stems to a mixer to help craft it into something that is releasable and then somehow it is distributed on the internet for myself and hopefully others to enjoy. 

• You’re a particularly prolific and consistent musician, releasing several DIY “conceptual” albums almost annually, the latest of which is the fresh “Everydayness,” released last March. Can you explain the term “conceptual” related to them?

Yeah, hah, I sort of incorporate constant music-making into my everydayness, so I’m producing often. When I’m going into a new album, I’ll start with a concept or thesis that all the song lyrics then relate to or back up. For Relativism, for instance, it was the idea that things are relative and based on your own perspective, and songs like “Live And Let Live”, “Apples And Oranges”, and others speak to that theme. 

For my latest, “Everydayness”, the running idea was finding beauty in the mundane and ordinary repetitions of daily life. My next one will most likely be called “Ultraview”, and it’s shaping up to be more about taking a bigger picture look at life, taking inspiration from the overview effect astronauts experience looking at Earth while in space, and like the pale blue dot and all that.

• Which song(s) are you most proud of and best represent the band?
  

I’m proud of the song that I play for someone for the first time, and they say ‘that’s really Darksoft.’ I like building a world and universe and a sound to inhabit that reflects itself and the world it’s in. I’m also proud of whatever seems to resonate with people. I like all my songs in different ways, but when one connects with listeners, that tells me there’s something there. But if I have to answer your question head-on, lately, my favorite is “Constant Change”. It’s incredibly fun to play and is in a more minor key.

• What kind of old/new music are you listening to? Any bands or artists you are excited about at the moment?
  

I’m excited about old and new bands. I’m gonna mainly reprint a list that I shared recently with another blogger who asked this question.

Some older influences: David Byrne, Depeche Mode, Echo and the Bunnymen, Edwyn Collins, Elliott Smith, Felt, Gary Numan, Joy Division, My Bloody Valentine, Nirvana, Orange Juice, Orchestral Maneuvers in the Dark, Primal Scream, Slowdive, Tears for Fears, the C86 album, The Cure, The Dandy Warhols, The Field Mice, The Jesus and Mary Chain, The Ocean Blue, The Ramones, The Smashing Pumpkins, The Strokes, Wire Train.

Newer music I’d recommend: Babe Rainbow, Black Marble, Castlebeat, Cool Heat, Day Wave, Drab Majesty, EVENTYD, Found Space, Famous Friend, Ghost Days, Glom, Heels, Hibou, JW Francis, Launder, Lost Film, Lurve, Phantom Youth, Skymender, Swiss Portrait, and Yndling, and The Smokey Honey Bluesband.

• Who would you most like to collaborate with?
  

There are many visual artists, designers, and videographers I’d love to collaborate with. For the music itself, for the most part, I enjoy my solo recording process and it’s sort of a personal therapy for me to engage in and I’m somewhat protective of how the parts talk to one another and what goes online associated with it. So, I’m unsure of what a musical collaboration would look like. From a catalog perspective, I also like having concept albums without one-off singles floating outside the canon of the albums.

Maybe that could change one day when I step outside the little world I’ve built around the project, but I don’t know when or if that will happen. That said, I’m working on some side projects that I expect will become collaborations, and I’ve recorded a handful of artists over the years to help produce their projects, and have invited some great singers to lay down vocals on some of my Darksoft tracks, too.

• What has been your best/worst gig so far (both as a performer and spectator)?

The best gig ever as Darksoft was probably the last time we were in Chicago. We put together a combined upstairs and downstairs night at Subterranean featuring a handful of dream pop and darkwave-focused acts. Just great energy, and I was surprised by how many people stayed for our set or were visiting from far away. I’m not gonna talk about a specific worst gig because I try to make the best out of whatever situation happens at the show and I’ve played for empty rooms more times than I can remember so it’s all blended together in my mind, so it’s all good. Win some, lose some. As a spectator I think seeing Slowdive at State Theater was pretty high up there in most recent memory. 

• What are your expectations for the newcomer Telepathic Windows Fest, and what should the punters expect from your performance?

I’m impressed with how quickly the organiser, Dave, got this together and the number of bands involved and the media supporters like yourself that are pitching in to get the word out. I think it’s gonna be a really meaningful event for the area and for those that are into this genre. I expect it will continue to grow next year. 

I’m stoked to watch The Veldt, Glimmer, Nicole Yun, Slow Television, and play with Talking to Shadows again and discover all the other musicians involved. From Darksoft you can expect a full band thing as a 4-piece, and we’ll be playing new songs from my most recent album “Everydayness”, as well as songs from “Rationalism, Relativism”, and “Grayscale”, which will hopefully soothe your existential ears. The live band really extends the recordings into something very special that I can’t wait for you to hear if you haven’t yet. 

• What are your plans for the future?

I’m currently writing this on an airplane on the way to LA to play a one-off show that I’m pretty excited about, so the near future is wrapped up in that, meeting new friends, and reconnecting with old ones too. We’ll be doing a short run to Chicago and back in August and will announce the show dates for that too. Time is short, life is fleeting, so I want to keep things going in a positive direction while I can so I don’t regret having could-haves or should-haves when I can’t any longer. The trick is figuring out how to balance music with the work-job and life and to do all this sustainably, right?

• Any parting words?
  

I want to thank you, the author and interviewer, for supporting this scene, interviewing bands and artists, and keeping a record alive. I wish anyone who has read my mumble-jumble stream-of-consciousness writing a very good day. I hope you feel loved, supported, and inspired to share art, not hate. On a more self-promotional note, consider checking out my latest album, “Everydayness”, which I poured much love into. It’s available for sale on Bandcamp, and is streaming on all major platforms. Follow me on socials at @darks0ft or visit my website (darksoft.band) to pick up Darksoft merch, read my lyrics, or sign up to my newsletter for updates on new releases, shows, tours, and other things. I also make music videos quite often, and you can watch those on my YouTube.