Local fans of indie rock band Darto may find that the band they thought they knew has changed in the four years since they last played Cafe Stritch. Back in 2014, the Seattle quartet were blasting out fuzzy post-rock swells and jangly tangles of noodly math leads over pummeling drums. During that particular show, the PA literally burst into flames while Darto were playing.

“Very metal,” says Nicholas Merz, frontman for the group, which returns to Stritch next Wednesday.

Since that fiery performance, the band has shifted tack. They put out an atmospheric soundtrack to a film that was, unfortunately, never released, as well as a full-length record brimming with warm, warbling synths, slurring alt-country slide guitar, dusty rosin-caked strings and minimalist, affected percussion. In other words, it’s definitely not as metal.

Still, Merz doesn’t think there is a too fundamental of a difference between his band’s June 2014 EP, Hex, and Darto’s latest LP, Human Giving. In fact, when he listens to the music he and his friends have made since 2010, he can trace a common thread through it all.

“It’s all mood based,” he says over the phone from Seattle. “It’s all just mood and texture.”

If there is one thing that most certainly hasn’t changed since the group played here four years ago, it’s Darto’s commitment to doing things their way, without the help of third parties or even much support from record labels.

While booking their own shows and touring the country, Darto have made strong connections with other bands and musicians all over the U.S. But some of their favorite people have come out of the South Bay.

“We have a lot of good friends in San Jose,” Merz says. In fact, the band member Gordon De Los Santos grew up on the East Side and used to play in the San Jose band Worker Bee.

De Los Santos first met Merz and fellow Darto singer and multi-instrumentalist Candace Harter while on tour with Worker Bee.

“Doing things on a DIY level—on community-based level—it’s super paramount to us as a band,” Merz says. “It’s how we’ve structured things in our band. That’s kind of the purpose of it in many ways.”

Merz insists that there are no primary songwriters in Darto, and the band members don’t even stick to the same instruments while writing or performing. The drummer on one song might be the bassist, keyboardist or guitarist on another. Which isn’t to say that they write by messing around until they hit upon something they can all agree on.

Rather, ever since Darto was recruited to compose a soundtrack for a film—Frontier, which was never completed—Merz says he and the rest of the band have been far more intentional with their writing and recording process. They talk about songs, textures, arrangements and the way a track should feel before they even pick up their instruments.

“We took a year and a half to write and record Human Giving,” Merz says. “We were super deliberate.”

Although Merz maintains he can trace a through line from the beginning to the end of the Darto catalogue, he also acknowledges that the band’s latest effort—released in September—marks a turning point. “We feel like this is our most concise piece of work,” he says.

He’s right.

While Darto’s previous work pulls the listener in with its feral and hypnotic energy, the music on Human Giving, coyly beckons—drawing you into the fold with a gentle magnetism.

Standout track “Fell Ill” features waves of mournful slide guitar, a languid picking rhythm and a soothing, oohing and ahhing backup vocal.

And unlike previous Darto releases, which saw Merz and Harter drowning their singing in oceans of fuzz, on Human Giving, they allow their voices through. Merz’s deep, drawling baritone, which he pairs with wry, matter-of-fact lyrics, is reminiscent of Stephin Merritt of The Magnetic Fields.

In the final analysis, Merz says that Darto is simply maturing, finding its own voice and doing what any serious band eventually does. “In my mind, this is what the band has been working toward for a very long time,” he says. “It’s finally at a spot where we have a group of people who can all share in steering the project and we all have confidence in each other.”

Darto plays with Doctor Nurse at Cafe Stritch’s Wax Wednesday next week.

Darto
Mar 14, 9pm, Free
Cafe Stritch, San Jose

Last week, local artist, musician and graphic designer Ben Henderson took down the plastic banner—which had hung above Cafe Stritch’s main entrance for more than a year—and replaced it with a hand-painted sign featuring the venue’s name and logo. Next week, the first of three shows booked in coordination with “boutique” production company (((folk YEAH!))) will kick off at the SoFA bar and restaurant. And in September, Cafe Stritch will host the two-night C2SV Local Music Showcase, featuring a handful of San Jose indie bands, including Darto, Dinners and No Maps.

Those three events may seem unconnected, but to Maxwell Borkenhagen, artistic director of Cafe Stritch, they are all indicators of something much larger: a resurgent live music scene in downtown San Jose.

As far as Borkenhagen is concerned, it’s impossible for any city to have a thriving arts scene without great live music. And as artistic director of Cafe Stritch, Borkenhagen says he feels it is “his responsibility” to try his damnedest to resurrect the “glory days” of the ’80s and ’90s, when bands like Sublime, Nirvana and Green Day played at legendary venues, such as The Cactus Club, Ajax Lounge and F/X.

“The music thing is key to me,” Borkenhagen explains. “Music is my life, it’s my passion.”

He doesn’t want to live in a place without it. Nor does he want to move to find it. He is fiercely loyal to his hometown. “I’m from San Jose, I live in San Jose, I want to live in San Jose,” he says. “We’ve got huge potential. We just need to show a lot of the people that live in the suburbs surrounding San Jose that it’s worth going downtown.”

Since Borkenhagen’s family rebranded the space formerly known as Eulipia, he has been working tirelessly to book shows that not only bring patrons through the door, but which also carry a certain level of cultural cachet. “I want to show the world that San Jose doesn’t suck,” Borkenhagen says—straight faced, without the slightest hint of irony. The idea is to get people stoked about going out to see live music in San Jose again.

That means bringing in national, critically acclaimed acts, such as Built to Spill—who played a blistering “secret” show at Stritch last April—as well as working with the taste-making  (((folkYEAH!))) Presents production company, which has booked three highly anticipated shows at Borkenhagen’s SoFA restaurant and bar this month, featuring Sonny and the Sunsets (Aug. 13), The Fresh and Onlys (Aug. 19), and The Entrance Band (Aug. 25).

It also means championing local talent, which is why Borkenhagen, is working in coordination with C2SV (Creative Convergence Silicon Valley) to present two nights of local indie and punk, Sept. 12-13) at Cafe Stritch.

The C2SV Local Music Showcase will feature Darto, Dinners and Plume on Friday, Sept. 12.

No Maps, Breathing Patterns and Li Xi will play on Saturday, Sept. 13.

Each night of the showcase will provide a peek into the diverse array of young indie bands coming out of the South Bay—proving that in a region better known for cover bands and DJs spinning Top 40, there are still plenty of musicians pushing themselves to create new and interesting tunes. There’s the artfully fractured noise- and post-rock of Darto and Breathing Patterns, the chugging, fuzzy indie of Dinners and No Maps, the bouncing, poppy, garage-punk of Plume. Li Xi—the only non-San Jose band in the bunch—crafts reverb-soaked, psychedelic beats of Li Xi.

Borkenhagen is very excited about the upcoming (((folk YEAH))) shows. “I’ve been a huge fan of Folk Yeah for a long time,” he says of the production company. “The bands that Folk Yeah works with are my dream bands that I’d love to book and work with and play in San Jose.”

He’s also pumped on the great local talent he’s been able to book at Stritch since it opened last March, as well as the support he’s felt in the community for live rock & roll shows. “There’s a lot of like minded peope in San Jose right now that realize that if you don’t like where the culture is at, you’ve got to build something,” he says, adding that he is keeping his fingers crossed that the trend continues. “I don’t know why so much is happening now, but it definitely feels like we’re on the rise again.”