The Darcys recently released their latest album, Rendering Feelings, a project which expands on the duo's evolving sound while also pushing the limits of their process.

Speaking with Variance ahead of the album's release late last month, the pair of Jason Couse and Wes Marskell noted the gap since their 2020 LP Fear & Loneliness and their decision to roll out this record in a much less rushed manner, allowing each of the preceding singles to thrive on their own.

"Nowadays, if you put out an album, the focus track gets a ton of attention, and then people don't get to hear the other songs," says Marskell. "And this way, the way we did it over the last year, it just allowed for so many more listens of the songs that we cared about."

With the duo now fully residing in Los Angeles after forging their career in Toronto, the past few years have been marked by change and challenges for both Couse and Marskell, who explored themes of love, identity and the complexities of modern life on this new album, which turned out to be much more introspective than they first expected.

"The other albums were more about creating these worlds and these fantasies and projecting what the future could look like," says Couse. "This is more about looking at ourselves and what our internal things really are, what our past has been like. And I think that takes a lot of looking into yourself and listening to yourself."

Adds Marskell: "I think through the process of doing that, you start to realize how you feel in the moment and when something's happening, like actually feeling that thing develop and render and take a shape ... So it's kind of about slowing down."

It's interesting that Couse and Marskell find themselves in such a place at this point in their careers and in their personal lives, in a city as fast-paced a cut-throat as L.A. But perhaps that's been part of the journey.

"There's so much emphasis on individualism and finding your own voice because it's just so vast here," explains Couse. "And there's so many people being creative in different ways, in unique ways. Really, the only way to stand out and succeed is to be the loudest version of yourself. And so I think coming from a creative atmosphere like Toronto, where there can be a bit of a push to homogenize sounds amongst different artists, there's this reminder here that anything can go if it's good enough. And so it's kind of just this encouragement, to be the wildest, most fun, creative version of you in whatever your particular little intersection or niche is."

For The Darcys, this phase may be the most exciting time for them even if it is also a bit uncertain. But they have no problem with not knowing exactly what the future holds.

"I think the best way forward is for us to stay in the moment, really focus on this record that has been the culmination of a long time—two, almost three years of writing and workshopping and changing songs—and I think it deserves its dues," says Marskell. "That's really important to us."■