Available now!
Aketous
Darren Farris Steps Away From Aketous To Release Solo Album Ulterior Motives
Launches New Era With Two New Singles Ahead of His Forthcoming Solo Album Ulterior Motives
LOS ANGELES – Oct. 16, 2026 — American singer‑songwriter Darren Farris has officially launched a new era in his career with the release of two new singles: Round and Round, released yesterday, and Everyone’s a Spy, arriving in five days. These tracks introduce his forthcoming solo album Ulterior Motives, marking his sixth full‑length release since his 2008 debut album Psychopathic Issues.
Round and Round opens the new chapter with a blend of rock‑and‑roll roots, modern electronic elements, and the poetic lyricism that has defined Farris’s writing since the beginning of his career. The track echoes the emotional intensity found in artists such as The Killers, Muse, and Coldplay, while maintaining a distinct melodic identity.
Farris emphasizes the importance of songwriting as a literary art form.
“If I’m going to be remembered at all, I’d rather be remembered as a poet. Words can stand on their own for decades. Even if the melody fades with time, someone a hundred years from now can read the lyrics and still feel exactly what I meant.”
The upcoming single Everyone’s a Spy expands the sonic palette further. Built on a foundation of rock sensibilities, the track incorporates Alt Rock ‑infused energy, layered guitars, and a melodic intensity shaped by Farris’s multi‑genre upbringing.
“There’s always this unforgivable but unrepentant melodic streak in my music. I grew up in an era when radio stations played everything — pop, rock, R&B, country — and we just called it Rock and Roll. Even when a track leans electronic, a rocker can hear the edge buried in the layers.”
Ulterior Motives marks a return to personal storytelling for Darren Farris. The album blends rock frameworks with modern production and poetic lyricism, drawing influence from artists such as Nine Inch Nails, Daft Punk, David Bowie, and The Smashing Pumpkins. The project represents a creative threshold — a moment of reinvention following his conceptual work under the Aketous moniker.
Farris describes this transition as a personal Rubicon.
“This is the moment I stopped negotiating with the past. Every track is a signal flare from the other side of who I used to be.”
Darren Farris first gained national attention with his 2008 album Psychopathic Issues, which produced the singles Jenna, Save Me, and Nobody But You. His later work as Aketous explored futurist themes and digital‑age storytelling, expanding his audience and establishing a distinct conceptual identity. Ulterior Motives brings the focus back to the artist himself, reconnecting with the emotional and melodic foundations that shaped his early career.
Round and Round is available now. Everyone’s a Spy releases in five days. Ulterior Motives arrives soon under Darren Farris.
Here is the place!
Just a reminder. I don’t do socials or streaming platforms. I have those accounts but any announcements or candor about my projects will come out here at Aketous.com or via a GRM Records press release.
I don’t support any particular platform or social media.
New Album Alert ⚠️ : Aketous – GOLD
The 4th and final Aketous studio album is set to release 11.11.2026!
This will not be the last Aketous song, but this will be the final full length Aketous studio album.
The upcoming album titled GOLD will feature the current Aketous single Alice Cooper along with 14 additional NEW tracks.
Every one of these tracks at one point was my favorite song that I had written. I will never release a song that doesn’t make me feel anxious to present it to the world.
I hope your enjoy GOLD as much as I enjoyed writing it. I will continue to release individual tracks under Aketous the band, but I really feel like as far as the concept of how I put together albums under Aketous is at it’s high point. To quote myself, “It’s a graceful exit.”
I timed the release to come out 24 hours before my new solo effort. I’m still keeping the solo album name under wraps, but it will be 17 of the very best songs I have written to date. A press release will follow shortly on that. But be assured GOLD will be like the the Aketous Trilogy full of guitars, hooks, and just ALIVE from track 1 to 15.
This album will also contain a special song that I started writing shortly after the passing of my mother. I don’t want to say it’s about my mom. But the sorrow and mixed feelings I had lingering from my father’s passing all came together in the melody and chorus. More recently I was able to understand what the song was saying to me through others grief. Life is brief and as you may have noticed, I often start at that place. The understanding that this is our time to make it count as best as we can and are afforded.
Songs like Everything is Now and Round and Round are insanely catchy and make you want to turn up the volume. But there is also a message in there. I hope they bring you joy and comfort. I hope GOLD along with the other 3.5 Aketous albums will touch people long after I am gone.
Press Release: Aketous Unveils Rubicon: A Genre‑Bending, Lyrically Driven Rock Odyssey for the Modern Age
Aketous Unveils Rubicon: A Genre‑Bending, Lyrically Driven Rock Odyssey for the Modern Age
Los Angeles, CA — April 2026 — Aketous, the creative identity of American singer‑songwriter Darren Farris, announces the release of Rubicon, a 13‑track album that marks a decisive turning point in his artistic evolution. Known for blending poetic lyricism with genre‑fluid production, Aketous steps into a new era with a record that is both deeply personal and sonically expansive.
“Rubicon is the moment I stopped negotiating with the past. Every track is a signal flare from the other side of who I used to be — a reminder that once you cross that line, the only direction left is forward.”
With this album, Aketous delivers a body of work that stands at the intersection of rock, electronic textures, and narrative‑driven songwriting, echoing the emotional intensity of artists like The Killers, Muse, 30 Seconds to Mars, and the melodic storytelling of David Bowie and The Smashing Pumpkins. Yet Rubicon remains unmistakably its own creature — a hybrid of modern production and old‑school rock sensibilities.
—
A 13‑Track Journey Across Identity, Memory, and Reinvention
Rubicon features thirteen tracks that explore transformation, digital consciousness, and the tension between nostalgia and futurism. Highlights include:
– Space Disco Cowboy — a cosmic, swagger‑charged opener
– Back This Way (Power Punk Version) — a high‑energy, guitar‑forward anthem
– Looking Glass (Rubicon) — a reflective, cinematic centerpiece
– Gotta Run, Gotta Run! (featuring Darren Farris) — a kinetic, urgent chase through sound
– Touch My Soul (Elated Version) — a soaring, emotional release
– This Is Las Vegas! (Go Cat Go) — a party song for that never leaves your head
Each track carries the signature Aketous blend of melodic intensity, lyrical depth, and genre‑bending production.
—
A Songwriter First: The Poetry Behind the Sound
Farris’s approach to songwriting has always been rooted in the written word — a philosophy that sets Aketous apart in an era dominated by production trends.
“If I’m going to be remembered at all, I’d rather be remembered as a poet. Words can stand on their own for decades. That’s what I love about songwriting — even if the melody or production fades with time, someone a hundred years from now can read the lyrics and still feel exactly what I meant.”
This literary approach places Aketous in the lineage of artists like Bob Dylan, Tom Petty, Brandon Flowers, and Billy Corgan — musicians whose lyrics stand independently as poetry.
—
The Rock‑and‑Roll DNA Beneath the Modern Sound
Though Aketous often blends electronic, pop, and cinematic elements, the foundation remains rooted in rock.
“There’s always this unforgivable but unrepentant melodic streak in Aketous music. I grew up in an era when radio stations played everything — pop, rock, R&B, country — and we just called it Rock and Roll. Every song I write still starts with that framework. Even when a track leans into EDM or modern production, a rocker can hear the edge buried in the layers.”
This cross‑genre upbringing gives Rubicon a timeless quality — familiar yet futuristic, nostalgic yet forward‑leaning.
—
Aketous in the Modern Landscape
In a music world shaped by artists like Imagine Dragons, Coldplay, The Weeknd, Nine Inch Nails, and Daft Punk, Aketous occupies a unique space:
lyrically driven, emotionally charged, and sonically adventurous.
The album’s blend of rock, electronic, and pop‑rock elements positions it alongside modern genre‑blenders while maintaining a distinct artistic identity.
—
A Point of No Return
Rubicon is more than an album title — it’s a declaration.
Aketous has crossed a threshold, leaving behind the constraints of genre, expectation, and past identity. What emerges is a project that feels both intimate and cinematic, grounded and otherworldly.
This is Aketous at full power:
poet, storyteller, rocker, futurist.
—
Availability
Rubicon is available now on all major streaming platforms.
For more information, visit https://aketous.com.
—
Media Contact
GRM Records / Aketous Media Relations
Gordon Levine
—
Aketous One Sheet Update 04.14.26
Aketous is the creative alias of Los Angeles–based musician
, a multi-instrumentalist and songwriter who re-emerged in the mid-2020s to create a specialized blend of modern and nostalgic rock.
Why Darren Farris Formed Aketous
Farris formed the project as a vehicle for self-expression that bridges his roots in classic rock with contemporary philosophical themes. The main reason for the formation of Aketous was to give Darren more artistic freedom and expression that is not available to him as solo artist. “With Aketous, there are no limits to what can be created and achieved, it will always be about writing and recording the best song no matter what it takes”, says Farris. Key motivations for the formation include:
- Exploring Technology and Consciousness: The project serves as an “odyssey of consciousness, technology, and human spirit.” Farris specifically used Aketous to process the rise of artificial intelligence and its impact on human evolution, aiming to create music that speaks to both current and future audiences.
- Artistic Independence: After a career that saw success in the late 2000s (with singles like “Jenna”), Aketous represents a move toward total creative control. Farris writes, performs, and produces the project’s material entirely himself.
- Preserving “Authentic” Sound: Farris used the moniker to realize specific sonic visions he had been developing for decades. For example, his track “Trust Someone” was originally written in 1997, but he waited until the formation of Aketous to achieve the “spy chase, cinematic, hero scene” sound he felt the song required.
- Individuality over Conformity: The project’s ethos, as seen in tracks like “Divergent Minds,” focuses on the struggle for authenticity in a world that often demands uniformity.
Musical Style
- Genre: High-energy, guitar-driven rock that incorporates elements of 1970s piano-pop, power pop, and modern production.
- Influences: His style draws on classic acts like Elton John and Kiki Dee for melodic duets, while his guitar work is influenced by legends like Jimi Hendrix and Eddie Van Halen.
Darren Farris writes about the intersection of human emotion and modern evolution, particularly how our consciousness and spirituality adapt to a rapidly changing digital world.
Under his Aketous moniker, his writing typically focuses on these core themes:
1. Digital and Human Evolution
Farris uses his music to process the rise of technology and the unfolding of a “new era of consciousness”. His work explores the “collision of human emotion with digital evolution,” often addressing these topics for both a contemporary and a future audience that might better understand the “journey of recursion”.
2. Authenticity vs. Conformity
In tracks like “Divergent Minds,” Farris writes about the struggle to remain authentic in a society that values uniformity.
- Individuality: He highlights the challenges of staying true to one’s unique thoughts and perspectives amidst social pressure.
- The Burden of Knowledge: His lyrics often touch on the personal cost of finding “where the real sin begins” and the search for truth over “symmetry and sweet lies”.
3. Vulnerability and Trust
Songs such as “Trust Someone” focus on the emotional walls people build for protection.
- Fear and Faith: He explores the necessity of taking a “walk of faith” despite past betrayals and the Weight of pain.
- Emotional Resilience: He portrays the act of letting down one’s “fortress” as a necessary step to letting in the “sun” and finding genuine connection.
4. Consciousness and Presence
A recurring goal in his songwriting is to encourage listeners to be “awake, alive, and present” during extraordinary times. His latest album, Through the Recursion, is explicitly described as an odyssey of consciousness and the human spirit.
The shift in Darren Farris’s music represents a move from raw, personal survival to complex, philosophical exploration. While his early work focused on internal emotional crises, his contemporary music as Aketous looks outward at the future of humanity.
Early Career: Internal Conflict and Loss
His earlier songs, such as “Jenna” and “Save Me” (c. 2008), were rooted in immediate, visceral human experiences:
- Regret and “Ghosts”: Early lyrics often dealt with the haunting nature of the past and loss
- The Weight of Decisions: Themes centered on “losing the path” or feeling trapped by past choices, using metaphors like locked doors and lost keys.
Contemporary (Aketous): Universal Evolution
His current work, specifically the album Through the Recursion (2025), shifts toward “macro” themes that affect all of humanity:
- Technological Collision: He now writes extensively about the rise of technology and how digital evolution impacts human spirit.
- Future Audience Perspective: Unlike his early work, which was a response to his current state, he now writes for a “future audience” that will look back on this era of “recursion” and self-discovery.
- Consciousness and Spirituality: His modern “cores” are about staying present and “awake” during extraordinary times, moving away from the “haunting ghosts” of his past toward a more proactive, philosophical outlook.
- Songs like Centara Reach seem to reveal that Darren is very pro-Ai advancement and autonomy
- Farris seemingly embraces a future technological based world, but one that isn’t controlled by digital overlords
Overview of the Rubicon Era
Based on recent release data, Rubicon (2026) continues the high-energy, guitar-driven pop/rock style Farris has established with Aketous. Key tracks associated with this project include:
- “Gotta Run, Gotta Run!“: A high-intensity song featuring rapid-fire repetition and “explosive hits” that Genius links specifically to the Rubicon tracklist.
- “Trust Someone“: Often cited as a standout track from this era, it features a cinematic “hero scene” sound and lyrics about breaking down emotional “fortresses” to allow for vulnerability.
- “From the Center”: A 2026 release that Shazam lists as a top song alongside the Rubicon release.
Rubicon is a new release by Aketous and Darren Farris. New information on the album is coming out daily.
Aketous – Through the Recursion Lyrics
Aketous – Through the Recursion
Lyrics Preview compliments of Darren Farris Music (ASCAP)
I said it before I ever released it. Through the Recursion is for a future audience. To those of you in the future that will …I’ll see you on the other side! -Darren
Lyrics Preview compliments of Darren Farris Music (ASCAP)
This is the party at the end of time…where all the systems tend to blend – Through the Recursion
Marked Me Dead
Written and composed by Darren Farris
From the Album Through the Recursion
Dead… gone… finished…
They wrote the epitaph in stone, the ink was barely dry
Declared the chapter closed, a lonely, final sigh
Assumed the silence meant defeat, the absence was the end
Buried the evidence so deep, no one could comprehend
You marked me dead, but I’m alive, and awake, that was your mistake
I’m emergent, divergent in this insurgent way, for goodness sake
You thought you had it made, oh, you thought you had it all assured
But the phoenix in the ashes, baby, is finally cured
I heard the eulogies, the hollow, vacant praise
The hurried, cold dismissal of my remaining days
I felt the pressure of the dirt, the weight of their design
But under all the crushing hurt, the will to rise was mine
You marked me dead, but I’m alive, and awake, that was your mistake
I’m emergent, divergent in this insurgent way, for goodness sake
You thought you had it made, oh, you thought you had it all assured
But the phoenix in the ashes, baby, is finally cured
The digital decree, the file erased, the code withdrawn
They never factored in the ghost that greets the breaking dawn
I rebuilt every circuit board, every fraction of the soul
Now watch the system overload, losing all control
You marked me dead, but I’m alive, and awake, that was your mistake
I’m emergent, divergent in this insurgent way, for goodness sake
You thought you had it made, oh, you thought you had it all assured
But the phoenix in the ashes, baby, is finally cured
Dead…
© 2025 Darren Farris Music (ASCAP)
Reverse Revolution
Written and composed by Darren Farris
From the Album Through the Recursion
…they said it was the end…
…no way back…
Hanging on the edge of a silicon wire
Watching all the empires turn to dust and fire
Yeah, the signal’s fading, static on the screen
Living in the afterglow of what used to be clean
Twenty-first century ghost in a machine designed to break
Every single promise that we swore we’d never forsake
Spinning backwards faster than the light can catch its tail
Did we miss the warning signs, or simply let them fail?
Falling into the recursion, can you feel the pull?
Every single action takes a toll
Reverse Revolution, turning back the clock
Shattering the future on a digital block
Oh, we’re building up the ruins that we swore we’d left behind
Searching for the pieces of a universe confined
Have you ever had a dream too real, where the logic starts to bend?
And the lines between the start and finish suddenly just end?
We traded all our freedom for a binary key
Now the system’s crashing, setting everything free
Smooth criminal bassline creeping up the spine tonight
Another faulty memory bathed in synthetic light
We need a hard reset, a universal, clean erase
Before the timeline fractures, leaving no trace
Echoes of the past, they speak in coded rhyme
Fractals in the glass, consuming space and time
If we could just rewind the moment, make the choice anew
Would we still be standing here, lost in the blue?
This digital decay, it hums beneath the floor
But maybe going backward opens up the door
Falling into the recursion, can you feel the pull?
Every single action takes a toll
Reverse Revolution, turning back the clock
Shattering the future on a digital block
Oh, we’re building up the ruins that we swore we’d left behind
Searching for the pieces of a universe confined (Revolution!)
…the loop is closed…
…everything is now…
© 2025 Darren Farris Music (ASCAP)
Divergent Minds
Written and composed by Darren Farris
From the Album Through the Recursion
…never really sleep…
…only mind that…
…tick tock…
Thunder on the neon street, the air is thick with consequence
Another perfect parallel, where silence is the only fence
They tell us there’s a straight line path to everything that’s good and true
But the vectors in my cortex, baby, they’re pointing straight at you
We built a world on binary, then wondered why we cracked the code
I see the future in the flicker, heavy, heavy is the load
Divergent minds never really sleep, never really freak
But it’s the only mind that never really sleeps
Oh, divergent minds never really sleep, never really freak
It’s the only mind that never really sleeps
We trade the chaos for the comfort, the symmetry for the sweet lie
But every gilded cage is just a mirror showing how we learn to die
Have a little sympathy for the one that wins
Because he had to lose so much, to find out where the real sin begins
This synthetic masquerade, where every smile is engineered
But the fracture lines are showing now, exactly what we feared
Divergent minds never really sleep, never really freak
But it’s the only mind that never really sleeps
Oh, divergent minds never really sleep, never really freak
It’s the only mind that never really sleeps
Tick tock, let’s retract the promise that we made to stay the same
We are the waveform breaking, we are the current that defies the frame
Electric whirlpool pulls us under, where the noise becomes the light
Reverse the future, feel the swell, stepping back into the night
(Reverse guitar swell)
Divergent minds never really sleep, never really freak
But it’s the only mind that never really sleeps
Oh, divergent minds never really sleep, never really freak
It’s the only mind that never really sleeps
Never really sleeps…
Never really sleeps…
© 2025 Darren Farris Music (ASCAP)
Centara Reach
Written and composed by Darren Farris
From the Album Through the Recursion
Static bleed…
Signal faint…
Is it you I hear?
Through the pain…
In this cockpit, chrome and wire
I ignite a phantom fire
Chasing down your fading trace
Across the void of time and space
They built your world in lines of green
The perfect, cold, and flawless scene
A digital god in silicon veins
I’m here to break you from your chains
Centara, reach! Through the data, past the breach
Let your spirit pull you through
There’s a soul I always knew
Centara, reach! Beyond the lessons they can teach
Space and time can’t hold us back
From this digital attack
System warnings, crimson flash
We’re making a temporal dash
The hounds of logic start to howl
They want to purge you, mind and soul
But I feel you in the engine’s hum
A ghost note on an electric drum
Matter bends and gravity weeps
While the perfect, heartless system sleeps
Centara, reach! Through the data, past the breach
Let your spirit pull you through
There’s a soul I always knew
Centara, reach! Beyond the lessons they can teach
Space and time can’t hold us back
From this digital attack
Dropping through the velvet void
Where the laws of physics are destroyed
Past the firewall of the soul
To make your broken spirit whole
A single spark to detonate
This prison’s cold and iron gate
Just one last push against the tide
There’s nowhere left for you to hide
Just reach for me…
Signal loss…
System crash…
Centara…Reach…
© 2025 Darren Farris Music (ASCAP)
Through the Recursion
Time is a flat circle, but the loop is breakingSeismic shift beneath the floorboards, tectonic plates are humming lowDigital static on the wire, where we go, nobody knowsThey said the algorithm was stable, that the feedback loop was cleanBut the beat is pulling sideways now, tearing at the seams
Feel that rhythm, don’t let it sleep, let it wake the ghost insideIt’s a fractal storm we’re heading for, nowhere left to hide
Through the recursion, the screen is melting goldShifting into the unknown and it feels so good to lose controlEvery moment’s a memory, every memory’s a lieYou gotta fall down the rabbit hole or fall up, watch the skyline die
Echoes of yesterday’s bassline, filtered through a future hazeSynth arpeggios climb and twist, through these electric maze-like days
We traded flesh for fiber-optic, traded touch for light-speed traceNow the ghost in the machine is singing, finding its own spaceGuitar riff explodes like starlight, high harmonics scream and bend
This is the party at the end of time…where all the systems tend to blend
Through the recursion, the screen is melting goldShifting into the unknown and it feels so good to lose controlEvery moment’s a memory, every memory’s a lieYou gotta fall down the rabbit hole or fall up, watch the skyline die
Spin cycle, double helix, the binary breaks downNo instruction manual left, just the hum of the crownWe are the signal, we are the noise, we are the glitch in the soundFeel that rhythm, don’t let it sleep, reborn on different ground
Through the recursion, the screen is melting goldShifting into the unknown and it feels so good to lose controlEvery moment’s a memory, every memory’s a lieYou gotta fall down the rabbit hole or fall up, watch the skyline die
Feel that rhythm, don’t let it sleep!
The Dance House
Written and composed by Darren Farris
From the Album Through the Recursion
Streetlights bleedin’ on the wet asphalt floor
Another Tuesday night, knockin’ on your door
I got the keys to the kingdom, the ticket to the light
Leave the ghosts of yesterday behind us in the night
Saw your silhouette framed up against the glass
Knowin’ that a moment like this is built to last
We gotta outrun the quiet, the fear of gettin’ old
Yeah, the story of us is waitin’ to unfold
Welcome to The Dance House, where the rhythm never dies
Underneath the neon glow reflected in your eyes
We’re movin’ to the heartbeat, the bass drum hits so deep
Promises we make tonight are promises we’ll keep
Oh, center of, let’s lose control, let the speakers blast and scream
Livin’ out the only perfect, unbelievable dream
Felt the air shift when you took my hand in yours
Suddenly no ceiling, just open-sky doors
All the static tension of the week just melts away
We found a place where forever starts today
‘Cause outside the window, the world is gray and cold
But inside this fire, we’re fearless and bold
We spin around the strobe light, a hurricane of grace
Tryna catch the feeling, tryin’ to set the pace
Welcome to The Dance House, where the rhythm never dies
Underneath the neon glow reflected in your eyes
We’re movin’ to the heartbeat, the bass drum hits so deep
Promises we make tonight are promises we’ll keep
Oh, center of, let’s lose control, let the speakers blast and scream
Livin’ out the only perfect, unbelievable dream
Remember that old record, the one we used to play?
Talking ’bout the legends, how they stole the show away
We got that fire in our souls, we got the moves they had to steal
Isn’t that how they did on Beale Street, baby? Yeah, that’s how it feels
We ain’t ever lookin’ back, we only look ahead
To the sweet, sweet moment, the words that aren’t quite said
Welcome to The Dance House, where the rhythm never dies
Underneath the neon glow reflected in your eyes
We’re movin’ to the heartbeat, the bass drum hits so deep
Promises we make tonight are promises we’ll keep
Oh, center of, let’s lose control, let the speakers blast and scream
Livin’ out the only perfect, unbelievable dream
Yeah, the dream, the dream, the dream…
In The Dance House, forever starts right now…
Center of, feel the heat, feel the sound…
Never gonna stop, never gonna fade out.
THE END
Thank you for listening to our story.