Rising Denver band Inner Oceans chases its musical ghost

(Photo: CPR / Daniel Mescher)

A lot of bands have claimed to find their sound when it just came to them out of the blue one night.

That might literally be the case with Denver-based project Inner Oceans.

Founded in 2013 by ex-Dovekins member Griff Snyder, Inner Oceans quickly made waves in the Denver music scene based on the strength of moody synth-pop songs like "Ready Your Ghost" and "I Don't Mind." Despite only releasing a handful of demo tracks beforehand, the band received Westword's "Best New Band" honor in 2014.

Now a trio featuring Snyder, Julia Mendiolea and Charlie Kern, the band spent a month last summer isolating themselves with no internet or phone service in a recording studio located in an aspen grove outside of Bailey, Colo.

It was there that a "musical accident" helped to define the band's sound going forward. 

"It was 4 in the morning, and we heard this weird noise coming from all of our instruments in this room," Mendiolea said.

(Photo: CPR / Jessi Whitten)

The sound was merely the signal of her synthesizer coming out of a bass amp after running through various effect pedals. But to the band, it signified much more.

"That just set the tone for this torrent of creativity," Kern said. That "terrifying" moment eventually led to Inner Oceans' next two singles, "Eight Cousins" and "Everything's Alright."

"That's the thing we've figured out with our creative process," Snyder said. "The more accidents that happen, those are the best songs. We talk about that being the ghost [of our music]."

After two years of writing and recording, the members of Inner Oceans are now prepping their debut album for release this summer. They're also focusing on building their live show with ambitions to tour in the near future.

Listen to Jessi Whitten's interview with Inner Oceans in the Mammoth Cave studio via the link above.

Inner Oceans headlines the Hi-Dive on March 13, and opens for Tennis at The Bluebird Theater on April 25.

Listen to our CPR Performance Studio session with Inner Oceans from 2014.