Chicago indie-rock band Así Así emerges from the pandemic with new album ‘Mal de Otros’
CHICAGO — The earliest iterations of Así Así may have begun in a different country and under a different name, but this rising indie-rock four-piece is now firmly a Chicago music act. And on their debut record, “Mal de Otros,” which comes out Aug. 19, listeners new and old alike can hear the fruits of their labor, largely perfected in the dark and disparate days of the early pandemic.
According to songwriter and frontman Fernando de Buen López, Así Así originated in Mexico City, where he lived before moving to Chicago more than a decade ago. In Mexico City, de Buen López was part of a different musical project, El Mañana. But after arriving in Chicago, he took a break from creating. “I didn’t do much music-wise for about five years,” de Buen López recalled. Then in 2018, after meeting future band member and drummer Ben Geissel, he decided to revive his old Mexico City-based band here in Chicago.
Unfortunately, another band registered their same name right before de Buen López decided to revive his old group, forcing them to truly begin anew.
“I guess it was also an opportunity to change things a little bit more and go on a different path,” he said. In 2019, soon after their second Chicago show, Así Así was born.
Así Así (also comprised of Celeen Rusk on keys and Sam Coplin on bass) was just in its creative infancy when the pandemic hit. Pre-pandemic, the group was most concerned with practicing old songs to translate them to a live setting. Now — without the aid of audience interaction — the group was forced to resettle, at least musically. For the different band members, this created different results.
“For me, it was really hard at first,” said Geissel, who was unable to play his instrument due to the at-home restrictions. “I was in a kind of weird standstill for a while.”
Meanwhile, Rusk said the pandemic was a time for her to become reoriented with herself. “Something I learned in the first year of the pandemic is taking time for myself is really helpful in establishing some kind of routine to build my life off of,” she said.
But for de Buen López, who is the group’s primary songwriter, it was time to get to work. He would force himself to sit down and work on songs for two hours every day after work, often composing the tracks first on acoustic guitar. He often worked with the band members or other collaborators through Zoom. Eventually, their list of 35 demos was narrowed down to 13 tracks they “considered coherent” and a final eight will appear on “Mal de Otros.”
“One of the things I really love about playing with you guys is that the creative process is fairly ongoing. These songs in that regard are like living, breathing things,” Rusk said about their creative process. “That flexibility and experimentation, it’s part of the band, I think.”
Fans first got a taste of their tracks in 2020 when the group self-released “Carne Molida.” But the songs that make up the bulk of “Mal de Otros” were not completed until 2021, when recording began.
Despite their time away from each other, the band says the separation did not take away from the initial cohesion they began to build during their pre-pandemic times.
“I think the way everything came together in the studio felt magical,” added Rusk. “It just happened so seamlessly, and that was a delight. Just to be a part of, to create music collaboratively in that environment was so much fun.”
On their first single from the new album, “Ya Lo Sé,” the group’s danceable brand of indie rock gets a psychedelic twist, with warm, moodier surf elements. The track, which features bass from celebrated local musician Wyatt Waddell, is a perfect complement to the dreamy, long days of summer and an affecting first introduction to the emerging group. Their latest single, “Me Quedo Ahí,” which came out in May, invokes similar sonic aesthetics to “Ya Lo Se,” with de Buen López’s piercing, crooning vocals serving as a perfect match for the track’s captivating synthesizers.
“Just suddenly, we have a record. That’s incredibly satisfying,” says de Buen López. “Even if no one listens to it, no one likes it, but I like it. So I feel like we did something that I’m very proud of.”
———
