(2021) Inner Wave - Apoptosis
Review:
The dictionary definition of “apoptosis” is “the death of cells which occurs as a normal and controlled part of an organism’s growth or development.” Inner Wave’s transformation during the past year was not the easiest. They dropped “wyd” at the beginning of the pandemic. A tour was to follow, perhaps another EP right after that — neither of those things happened. Since then, two members contracted the COVID-19 virus at the peak of the pandemic last December, a longtime member departed, and a new one joined.But Apoptosis only briefly brushes through the resigned feelings of loss and reminiscence. Instead, the undoubtable maturing sound and the typical Inner Wave nonchalance serve as highlights of the album. “One in a Million” immediately sets the groovy undertone. The guitar riff following the intro feels prominent at first, until all the different elements roll in subtly. ” Lead vocalist Pablo Sotelo’s vocal echoes lightly over the spacey track. A journey of mystery were to be expected. Both “Rey” and “Fever” feel almost aggressive — each in a very different manner. “Rey” has a tempo on the slower end, but the mix of instrumentation spins wildly and competes with each other. “Fever,” on the other hand, has a steady disco-inspired tempo that allows the different instruments to blend. Though inherently different, both songs test the boundary between complete chaos and skillful execution. The tracks feel full, but not crowded. Much of this album relies on the music to narrate feelings. “I hope one day we’ll meet again / I hope you won’t forget my name,” emotions seem to flow through the seamless electric guitar and the occasional bass line in “Memory(Trees).” It’s a secret message from an old lover, but it’s also a never-sent letter from an old friend. With just one prominent line, “You are my life / You are my love,” “Reach” is a distant murmur that never got spoken aloud. The infusion of ’60s psychedelic and ’80s voice synthesizer makes the song timeless and, to an extent, almost unreal. Feeling stuck is not the norm for Inner Wave. When the pandemic forced everyone into lockdown, and having a longtime member departed from the band during that same period, Inner Wave had to step out of their comfort zone. The result became Apoptosis — a tale of steadily leaving the past behind while still trying to figure it all out. Sure enough, the guys went all out with the studio space and tested the limits. Many tracks on the new album feature a symphony. There’s harp in some of the songs, and Trujillo’s trumpet parts appear quite a few times. “I played trumpet originally when I was in elementary school by accident — like accidentally signed up,” Trujillo says. “I didn’t pick the trumpet up until a few years ago. I was taking lessons from our friend Iz Burns last year to get my chops up. This is my first album to have trumpet on it. So that’s been new to me. It was a fun, new area to record in.” On that same topic, Jean Pierre Narvaez adds, “I feel like sometimes we’re layering more and more tracks on a song (then) we find ourselves in a very crowded space. So then we have to start pulling back. While we were writing the string parts for some of the songs, we would go a little far out, and then just bring it back. But it’s fun to go far out. You know, it’s fun to start diving in and really get lost, I guess.” But even though this album is definitely a more dramatic one, it’s still very much an Inner Wave album at its core. “It was recorded live onto a tape,” Sotelo says. “I think that’s something that will get people excited for sure, it would get me excited as a fan.” The “going all out” mentality caused by the pandemic also resulted in Sotelo becoming the director for this album’s music videos. The video for “Fever” is newly released, and the band already released the videos for “Take 3” and “Mystery,” where Sotelo carefully played with the extreme ends of color theory and alternate dimension vibes. – Euphoria
Track Listing:
1.One in a Million 03:57
2.Rey 03:24
3.Fever 02:54
4.Memory(Trees) 04:16
5.June 02:39
6.Reach 02:26
7.Nature 03:22
8.Take 3 03:56
9.O 02:16
10.Air 04:08
11.Mystery 03:51
12.Bones 03:17
Media Report:
Genre: indie-rock, psychedelic rock
Country: USA
Format: FLAC
Format/Info: Free Lossless Audio Codec, 16-bit PCM
Bit rate mode: Variable
Channel(s): 2 channels
Sampling rate: 44.1 KHz
Bit depth: 16 bits