Tim Darcy, a songwriter, guitarist, and vocalist based in Canada, possesses a singular vocal approach that recalls a youthful David Byrne or Lou Reed. As frontman of the fiercely energetic indie rock outfit Ought, he has also issued more intimate solo work.
Born Tim Beeler in Arizona, the musician assembled Ought during 2011 in Montreal alongside keyboardist Matt May, bassist Ben Stidworthy, and drummer/violinist Tim Keen. Drawing heavily from the city’s underground currents of political activism, loft gatherings, and D.I.Y. ethos, the group fused the urgent drive of mid-’90s emo with the lighter textures of early college rock acts such as the Feelies and Talking Heads. Sharing a combined living and rehearsal space, the members captured their debut EP, New Calm, themselves in 2012. Regular local performances eventually drew the attention of Constellation Records, which issued the band’s first full-length, More Than Any Other Day, in spring 2014. Later that October they followed with the four-track EP Once More with Feeling.... At the start of 2015 Darcy formally took his mother’s maiden name, and Ought’s sophomore album, Sun Coming Down, arrived in September of the same year.
During 2016 he issued an experimental joint project with sound artist A.J. Cornell. Titled Too Significant to Ignore, the recording juxtaposes existential spoken-word passages against layered field recordings, electronic treatments, and altered everyday objects. Returning to indie rock in early 2017, Darcy released his debut solo album, Saturday Night, through Jagjaguwar; the collection gathers more personal compositions that had not aligned with Ought, among them several pieces written before the band existed.
