Kiltro, NØÅ

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Julian Brier

The band Kiltro.

Kiltro

A haunting, sometimes melodic, sometimes danceable indie/Latin mashup from Denver, Kiltro is touring in support of their sophomore effort, Underbelly. This show could be the sleeper hit of the summer. Madison’s NØÅ, a side project of The Earthlings' Noah Gilfillan, opens.

$15 ($12 adv.).

media release: Titled Underbelly, Kiltro’s sophomore album crystallizes those dreams and experiences into a post-rock manifesto of dazzling beauty.  Underbelly signals a new chapter in the fusion of Latin roots with mainstream rock and marks a bold step forward in Kiltro’s extraordinary musical journey. 

“When we first started the band, I was playing folk songs – focusing on my interior spaces and finding catharsis through melody,” says the band’s Chris Bowers who sings and plays guitar. “I’ve always been attracted to music that is melancholy and personal. Then we added the rhythmic component, and I realized that having a bit of noise and chaos can add emotional depth. ‘Underbelly’ reflects everything that happens inside your soul when the world stops on its tracks.” “We tried a lot of new things on this record,” agrees Will Parkhill who plays bass. “We were living through unprecedented times and coming to terms with all of it. The album is a reflection of that. At the end of the day, we wanted to create the kind of music that we didn’t hear anywhere else.”

And they have done exactly that. Out today is the first song from the album titled “Guanaco.” On the single Bowers shares: "A guanaco is a South American animal that is a bit like a llama. It’s known for spitting. In Chile, it has another meaning, and is colloquially used to refer to police vehicles that shoot water at protestors. We wrote this song in the wake of the 2019 protests for a new constitution in Chile.  The line “ya viene el guanáco” means simply “here/now comes the guanáco,” which against a driving, melancholic backdrop, had an almost fairy tale quality to it. I felt it communicated a sense of foreboding and nervous anxiety. Taken more literally, it means a beast is coming, here.  Of course, a guanaco is not a terrifying thing, but a police line in riot gear with the machinery of dispersion and violence, is. 

He continues “To be clear, the aim was never to make an explicit political point. Rather, I wanted to capture that peculiar environment of communal tension and mounting emotional energy, be it conviction or catharsis, or fear. The album had yet to take shape in those months, but I was certain the song would make an apt intro to whatever came next. I hope you enjoy it."

Kiltro are already a fixture in the Denver scene where they are famous for their transformative live shows.

Years ago, Chilean-American singer/songwriter Chris Bowers Castillo moved to the port city of Valparaíso and became a walking tour guide. “I would dress up as Wally and give tours to families and kids,” he remembers with a laugh. “It was great, because I got to know the city incredibly well. I’d walk for hours, then spend the rest of the day partying and drinking, probably way too much. But I also wrote lots of new songs.” 

Back in Denver, Chris looked for a moniker that reflected the evocative and subtly rebellious musical concepts percolating in his head, and settled on kiltro - a word used in Chile for stray dogs or mutts. He then teamed up with bassist Will Parkhill and drummer Michael Devincenzi, later inviting Fez García to join the band as an additional percussionist on Kiltro’s live gigs.

“I wanted to do a project mixing different styles and aesthetics,” he says. “Valparaíso is my favorite city in the world and will always influence my music. There were street dogs everywhere, and I’m a mutt myself.”