Two musicians—husband-and-wife duo Mario [guitar, synths, vocals] and Sarah Quintero [bass, guitar, vocals]—simply pick up their instruments and mainline dense distortion, spacey soundscapes, and unnervingly serene vocal transmissions directly from the heart. This unpredictable, yet unassuming sound quietly heralded their arrival in 2016 on the D.I.Y. debut LP, Tidals. Brooklyn Vegan stumbled upon the project and streamed “Walls.” The song eventually entranced musician and producer Aaron Harris (ISIS/Palms) who shared it with his Palms singer and Deftones frontman Chino Moreno. An invite to open the Deftones summer tour followed as the band would go on to share the stage with everyone from Melvins, Hum, and Glassjaw to Pelican and Pallbearer. Ipecac Recordings fell under the band’s spell and signed them. The Harris-produced Seismic dropped on Ipecac Recordings in 2017 to acclaim from Revolver, Metal Injection, New Noise, MetalSucks, and many others. Between tours, 2018 saw them reveal the Hanging By Faith remix EP and one-off single “Kiss the Ring” [feat. Allen Epley].
The group’s 2019 third full-length, Love and Decay, may indirectly offer an answer. This time around, Spotlights once again personally handled production, working out of a tiny Brooklyn rehearsal space. However, for the first time, they enlisted the talents of drummer Chris Enriquez behind the kit on the entire body of work rather than a combination of Mario and guest performers.
