SG76: Darksoft - Rationalism [LP]
Darksoft is a multi-instrumentalist songwriter and producer specializing in dream pop and shoegaze. Seamlessly amalgamating lush melodies, 80s/90s alternative rock undertones, and precise vocals, Darksoft’s music frequently gestures to public resonance — the running themes within his previous album Relativism (2024), for instance, were the fact that “views and opinions are relative and taste is subjective” and that we should “be accepting and have empathy for other people.”
Rationalism takes this and also gestures towards instinct and intuition, resulting in a calmer, yet incredibly earnest collection of tracks. Opener “Devil’s In The Details” is immersive without being formidable, and as a result, the rest of the album feels like a careful submersion into a lush soundscape. “Day By Day” and “Some Things You Just Know” have an ultimately infectious confident aura, while “No One Knows” and “Better Late Than Never,” while heavier, still gesture towards a calm resignation to the world, to ourselves. Closer “Out Of Sight Out Of Mind,” then, is less about remaining ignorant of oblivion than it is about learning how to recognize those moments of beauty along the way: “Nothing's really going on,” they say, “Until you shine a light on.”
SG76: Darksoft - Rationalism [LP]