I Love You But I've Chosen Darkness operates as a five-piece dark pop outfit rooted in Austin, Texas, alongside fellow local acts such as Paul Newman, Windsor for the Derby, and Glorium. Established in 2001, the lineup centers on vocalist Christian Goyer, bassist Edward Robert, guitarists Ernest Salaz and Daniel Del Favero, and percussionist Tim White. Their debut album, Fear Is on Our Side, undercuts any assumption of predictability. Earlier, the five-song self-titled EP had surfaced in 2003 through the Emperor Jones imprint—reissued in 2006 by Secretly Canadian—and delivered a brand of indie rock that leaned gently somber yet partially danceable, shaped by Spoon’s Britt Daniel in the producer’s chair, whose input also stirred interest outside the city. Fear Is on Our Side, however, moves into territory marked by deep and unrelenting gloom. Guitar textures recall Talk Talk and other raw, inward-looking bands of the 1980s, yet the mid-2000s context introduces a sharper layer of awareness that reflects close engagement with more recent developments, especially in electronica. The band’s recorded work to that point signals an appetite for ascent and discovery, even as cynicism remains a steady undercurrent. Through the later years of the decade the group stayed largely silent, appearing to settle into a prolonged pause. In late 2014 Secretly Canadian disclosed that a second album, Dust, would arrive the following October.
