Inner Wave

Date and Time for this Past Event

• Friday, Feb 11, 2022  7pm

Location

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Details

LA-based indie rock group Inner Wave visit the Club Congress stage with support from Divino Niño.

Inner Wave
Divino Niño
Live at Club Congress

Friday, February 11

7pm doors / 8pm show

$21 adv / $23 DOS

*PER THE ARTIST'S REQUEST: PROOF OF VACCINATION & APPROVED MASK ARE REQUIRED FOR ENTRY TO THIS SHOW*

The artist has made the following requirements for this show:

Proof of Vaccination: defined as 2 weeks after the 2nd dose of Pfizer or Moderna or after a single dose of Johnson & Johnson. (Negative covid test will not be accepted as an alternative.)
Approved mask: defined as a surgical mask, KN95, N95, with a metal nose wire. All patrons entering the venue for the event must be wearing an approved mask that covers nose and mouth at all times while in the venue. Exceptions are made while actively eating or drinking.
All patrons entering the venue for the event must be temperature checked.
Any patron with a temperature of 100.4 or higher shall not be allowed entry.
Inner Wave has partnered with PLUS1 so that $1 from each ticket will go towards supporting Our Music My Body, a collaborative campaign founded by Between Friends and Resilience to raise awareness about sexual harassment in the music scene.

We’ve teamed up with Our Music My Body to create and implement policies that will provide a proper level of safety at our shows. At every show from now on, we will have a representative from OMMB on site to provide resources and a safe space to encourage a positive experience for all attendees.

We’ve been working closely with OMMB to educate ourselves on how we can all work together to foster a safe space for everyone.

For more info: www.innerwave.xyz/code-of-ethics

INNER WAVE

This September 30th marks the 15th anniversary of the first rehearsal of what we now know as LA-based band Inner Wave. Its founding trio set off as middle schoolers with a certain kind of gusto, and they’ve never forgotten it. Now in their 20s, Inner Wave is readying the release of a fourth LP, Apoptosis, and its members feel more musically connected and confident than ever before.

Without downplaying the difficulties—because of course, through such a long journey there’s been plenty of them—it is because of a single, steadfast credo that Inner Wave has endured, and it’s why the group continues to grow. They care immensely about the craft of music-making.

Over the past few years, however, that guiding premise was inadvertently compromised. Things were moving quickly; they’d toured particularly relentlessly and released heaps of singles since the popularity of 2017’s Underwater Pipe Dreams. But when the pandemic hit last year, of course, a slow-down was unavoidable.

Tours supporting WYD, an EP released last spring, were canceled. As Covid-19 cases hit a terrifying high, guitarist-vocalist Pablo Sotelo contracted coronavirus. Drummer Luis Portillo was not spared, either, although thankfully, neither became gravely ill.

“We were in a position where we felt we were at a high, and then sunk to a really dark low, not knowing what’s going to happen—not just with us, but with the world,” Sotelo recalls.

Even without the unprecedented stress of surviving a global pandemic, Inner Wave was already off-course, scattered. The mandated hiatus and the reasons for it were frightening. But if they were to continue, Inner Wave would absolutely have to regroup and refocus.

Pablo Sotelo, Elijah Trujillo (guitar), and Jean Pierre Narvaez (bass, vox) are the founding members, but Inner Wave is actually a quintet, and now in its tightest formation yet. Drummer Luis Portillo, who’s been with the band since 2017, is obsessed with his craft. Sound engineer Jose Cruz was incorporated late in 2020 as keyboardist, and his tenacity (and genius, all agree) is unparalleled.

Cruz fit right in, Trujillo notes: “He understands the type of level of musicianship that we have, and puts in the effort to take it to that next level, to go home with a notebook full of chords that he figures out and brings back the next day—without us even having to ask him.”

Discipline—specifically, a commitment to lifelong learning of music-making—is a massive force in Inner Wave’s flow. As kids, Sotelo, Trujillo, and Narvaez drilled and drilled, practicing for hours after school every day. This dedication remains foundational; a certain intensity of effort is essential to Inner Wave.

“Coming out of this pandemic,” Sotelo says, “having gone through so much and restructuring our team, we reverted back to being very hands-on—like we were for 11 years. Now I feel very confident: we’re like a musical tank.”

The newly unified five-piece spent two weeks quarantined at True Sound, a recording studio where Cruz also lives. Surprisingly, this was their first-ever experience recording a full-length in a studio.

Out on September 30th, Apoptosis is a trip into the band’s familiar realm of electronic, soul, and garage-rock. This time, however, the details are especially intricate, with unexpected synth accents that somehow both meld and stand out; they feel necessary, like the crevices and sharp edges of a mountain. Through these well-resolved musical moods, the intentionally ambiguous lyrics are strongly conveyed, yet left up to the listener for pondering. Apoptosis is experimental yet intentional. It is far-fetched in theory, but not out of reach in its final presentation.

“Apoptosis is a biological term for the death of cells, which occurs as a normal and controlled part of an organism’s growth or development. Basically, it’s when your body lets certain cells die so that new healthy cells can grow,” Sotelo explains. “It was indicative of what we had just gone through this whole year, with losing a member, losing management, losing a tour, shows, losing friends, losing almost everything. And then starting from the ground up.”

Today, Inner Wave is a result of all those tribulations as much as it is all the toiling toward progress done despite them.

“We finally got to have that experience where we’re all in the room writing a song and we all just kind of know what we want; it’s so exciting,” Narvaez says. “During these times we learned to adapt and grow as individuals, and more importantly, as a unit. I feel like Apoptosis is one of our best musical works so far because of these moments. Every hardship evolves into something beautiful.”

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Divino Niño

Divino Niño’s new album Foam feels like catching up with a lifelong friend. There’s undeniable songwriting chemistry between guitarist Camilo Medina and bassist Javier Forero, who met as kids in Bogotá, Colombia and years later reconnected by sheer happenstance after their families had both moved to Miami. Now Chicagoans, their rhythmic, soulful—and at times bilingual—Latinx punk songs are a reflection of their continent-spanning bond and proof that Divino Niño couldn’t have formed without unlikely but happy coincidences.

This shows on the entirely inviting, syrupy, and sexy Foam. The quartet’s Latin American roots seep in throughout the LP’s silky psychedelic flourishes but especially on single “Maria,” which is sung entirely in Spanish. Inspired in equal parts by Argentine punk and the narratives of Mexican telenovelas, the personality-filled track is one of the most memorable on the record. Though it’s the first song Medina has ever written that wasn’t somewhat autobiographical, it’s delivered with enough emotion to feel real. Medina sums up the band’s ethos: “We are very driven by feeling: something that’s cozy, at home, and a little sentimental.”

After cutting their teeth in southern Florida bands, Forero and Medina decamped to Chicago in 2010 to study at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. There they met guitarist Guillermo Rodriguez and together, the three became roommates in 2013 and started the earliest Divino Niño demos. Drummer Pierce Codina joined some time later and after several recordings and mixtapes like 2016’s The Shady Sexyfornia Tapes, the bluesy, drum-looped early tracks gradually evolved into the nostalgic, synth-led rock of Foam. Recording and scrapping the record multiple times, the tracks heard on Foameventually took shape as they patiently found their voice.

The ten tracks on Foam feature silky harmonies from Medina, Rodriguez, and Forero, wistfully romantic lyrics like the yearning plea on the title track (“I really wanna run away with you”), and sunny, honeyed arrangements. Songs like “Quiero” trade-off between English and Spanish with woozy guitars and harmonies anchoring the sweetness of the lyric: “I don’t ever want to change your mind / I want to be with you the way that you are.” It’s as close to a complete picture of love as a song can get, tackling everything from emotional intimacy, curiosity, and sex without a second wasted.

There are sonic touchstones that are fun to spot like the pristine City Pop-indebted production flourishes (it’s not a stretch to guess the title “Plastic Love” is a Mariya Takeuchi nod) and the subtle shoegaze of “B@d Luck.” But really, Foam is a love letter to Chicago’s vibrant music scene. Forero explains, “The Chicago community helped sharpen the vision and what we are supposed to be doing.” To the band, immersing themselves in shows with acts like Bunny, Glyders, and Parent crystallized how the city can and should feel like a musical home.

In fact, the band even recruited an all-star list of local collaborators like Justin Vittori (Knox Fortune, Grapetooth) who provided keys and auxiliary percussion while Luke Henry played slide guitar. Twin Peaks’ collaborator Andrew Humphrey helped mix the LP while others like Paul Cherry, Twin Peaks’ Colin Croom, and Mild High Club’s Matt Roberts lent a helping a hand with production. Though Foam is the product of so many personalities, backstories, and influences that cross genres and geographical lines, Divino Niño has managed to create something that feels truly fresh and uniquely them.

“This is us trying to find - obviously - our own voice and who we are,” says Medina. “Everything here is very heartfelt and emotional. We wanted to show that we are all softies.”