Washed over by In Waves

Ambient music can make you feel as if you're enveloped by fog, torn between the comfort of its womb-like sonics and the anxiety over what might lie beyond the shroud. The aptly named L.A. band In Waves wratchets up the tension considerably, with furious, melodic drums punctuating distortion-laden guitar and reverb-heavy vocals. Ethereal, meet ghostly.

A collaboration between Orange County boyhood friends Jimmy Notorleva and Dean Cooper -- "We'd play old surf songs while our parents talked about mortgages," Notorleva says -- In Waves landed in local clubs about a year ago with no proper recordings (they have only now begun that process), their sense of experimentation intact. In stark contrast to many of the bands with which they were billed, the two-piece featured just Notorleva's echoing voice and guitar (often over prerecorded loops) and Cooper's rhythms.

"We started as kind of a post-punk band, but we never felt like it was our thing. So Dean and I kept practicing until our own voice emerged," Notorleva says, not that he is quite sure of that voice's origins. "But it seems the most subconscious things come from darker places."

Cooper's artful work emerged as he slowly "learned to articulate things" over a 10-year love affair with the kit. "The drums can speak a lot more [in In Waves' setting] than they can in just a regular rock song with a backbeat," he says. "The rhythms add texture to the songs ... On a lot of our stuff, I just listen to Jimmy's lead and play to that, either to complement or call-and-answer his parts."

For this month's Tuesday night residency In Silverlake, the duo has added bassist Tim Gregorio, who will be in on the band's three-song recording project for Henry Records.

||| In Waves plays tonight at the Silverlake Lounge and next Tuesday at El Cid.

Photo of Jimmy Notorleva, left, and Dean Cooper by Brian White.

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Tonight's touts: Northern continues its residency at the Key Club's Ruby Tuesdays. ... Silverchair plays a sold-out show at the El Rey Theatre, and the House of Blues, with Cartel, Cobra Starship and Boys Like Girls on the bill, is sold out too. ... The Minor Canon has an in-store performance at Sea level Records for its album "No Good Dead Goes Unpunished." ... Johnette Napolitano performs at the Hotel Cafe. ... And, as noted earlier today, Jesu's Spaceland show was cancelled due to the British band's problems getting U.S. work permits. 

Comments

[guest]

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the album features ex-members of Don Caballero & Atombombpocketknife.

The EP's songs have a whole new developed sound that would appeal to fans of Unwound & Don Cab. bass loops, angular guitars, sweet drum beats, droney keyboards!

check out the new stuff on their myspace
http://www.myspace.com/thepoisonarrows