The Darcys – AJA

Band: The Darcys
Album: AJA
Shot of choice: Jameson

While it seems like it would be an impossible task, The Darcys took on Steely Dan’s Aja and set out to record the album in its entirety. Fortunately, the task wasn’t impossible for the band, as the album is exactly what I expected it to be – a Darcys album. As the album is an interpretation and not meant to sound exactly like the original, there are elements that are missing, but The Darcys find a way make the project their own.

The album sees a lot more synth than The Darcys are generally accustomed to, but the band manages to fuse Steely Dan’s jazz rock elements with their atmospheric post-rock sounds, making Aja an album to be proud of. Perhaps the most different from what you’d typically hear from The Darcys, a song that really emphasizes the jazz rock aspect of the album is “I Got The News”, but the song fits in well alongside a noisy ending to “Home At Last” and a broody “Josie”.

The album contrasts their tight distortion-laced guitar work against synth melodies under Jason Couse’s vocals that are so on point. The subtleties, nuances, and details throughout the album are what make this album more than just a “cover album”.

It’s been about 2 weeks since The Darcys released their interpretation of Steely Dan’s Aja. The album was recorded at a time when their self-titled seemed to be in a state of limbo with fans wondering when it would finally see the light of day. The Darcys took to their Facebook and Twitter to hint at the recording of Aja with quotes from the album, showing their fans that they were still working hard to release something. It wasn’t long before “Home At Last” was added into The Darcys’ sets and if you weren’t familiar with Steely Dan, you might not have even noticed the band was performing a cover.

Soon the band finally had mixes they felt were right for the self-titled and the band found a home with Arts & Crafts, striking a deal to release 3 albums with the Toronto label. October 2011 saw the release of their self-titled followed by Aja in January 2012, with another album to follow and The Darcys continue to move forward.

The Darcys are currently finishing up a tour out East with Arkells, but won’t be resting much as they head out West and down south to the States with Bombay Bicycle Club, followed by a some UK dates and Edgefest in July. Torontonians can catch The Darcys with Bombay Bicycle Club on March 1st at the Phoenix Concert Theatre.

You can download this album, as well as their self-titled, for free on their website. But even more notably, you can pick up Aja on beautiful translucent red 180-gram vinyl. It’s worth the purchase.