Chicago-via-Bogotá band Divino Niño premiered a wild, mildly NSFW Ambar Navarro-directed video for their electrifying new single “XO” alongside a feature at Rolling Stone, and following its audio debut via KCRW’s Morning Becomes Eclectic.
Gleefully blending the sacred and profane, the quintet explains the track and video, which features a custom-made baby Jesus bong, “are inspired by experiences Camilo and Javier had growing up in a cultish Christian church. The lyrics are about rebelling against taboos set by religion with a tongue-in-cheek twist.” Medina adds, “I just thought: let’s put the bible and an ass right next to each other in the lyrics. If there was any trauma hanging from our upbringing, we were able to deal with it here.”
Unlike Foam, which was predominantly English, a majority of Last Spa on Earth songs are sung in Spanish (“XO” is one of the few bilingual exceptions). “There’s a reason there’s more Spanish on this record,” says Forero. “We just felt like because that’s our native language, we wanted to bring the band more into our music and that feels more true to who we are.” Divino Niño’s new album Last Spa on Earth, due out on September 23rd via Winspear, is available for pre-order here.
“XO” follows their recent shimmering, irresistible track “Nos Soltamos,” the LP’s energized and danceable lead single “Tu Tonto,” and their dynamic 2021 teaser single “Drive,” which earned praise and support from Pitchfork, i-D/Vice, NPR Music (#NewMusicFriday), Remezcla, Brooklyn Vegan, FLOOD Magazine, and more. The band will embark on a co-headlining tour with Little Jesus in September, including stops at Brooklyn’s Elsewhere (October 5th), Chicago’s Lincoln Hall (October 9th), and a performance at this year’s inaugural Primavera Sound festival in Los Angeles (September 16th). Tickets and a full itinerary are available here and below.
With the masterful and unpredictable Last Spa on Earth, Divino Niño has totally upended the way they write songs, eschewing practice room jams for unrelentingly collaborative beats, implied grooves for immersive dance floor heaters, and mellow vibes for frenetic doses of reggaeton, electropop, and trap. While on tour with Crumb supporting their 2019 breakthrough LP Foam, the band gained a new perspective: “When you’re in front of big audiences, you see what works and what hits people rhythmically,” says drummer Codina. “We started pushing the tempo live, having more energy, and getting into a more dancey arena. Seeing people dance shifted our mindset – we became a little bit bored with playing mid-tempo indie songs.” Across the album’s 12 tracks, Divino Niño seamlessly and enthusiastically traverses a staggering amount of genres and sounds, resulting in their most adventurous and ambitious work to date.
The album artwork, created by the band’s own Medina (a longstanding visual artist), depicts a dreamy, yet graffiti-tagged spa, void of physical bodies so listeners can envision themselves in this unique environment. It represents the yin and yang approach Divino Niño took while creating the album: the serenity of the spa and the chaos of the party, fire and ice, wind and rain. In place of songs about love, these tracks were crafted as a self-help guide – different pages of a book that tell the story of the band processing their lives. Ultimately, the band’s desire is to provide healing in the same way one feels after sweating, shivering, stretching, and resting at the spa against the backdrop of the world’s darkness.
