By definition, borders are meant to contain and define certain areas. But Dos Santos reveals what borders actually embody. They encapsulate the struggles, the triumphs, the endless ironies, the millions of stories of individuals and families coming to terms with their everyday realities. In the throes of the pandemic, within the turmoil and heartache of social and cultural shifts in the U.S., the Chicago-based band wrote and recorded City of Mirrors, their sonic exploration of Latinx identity, an honest and poetic expression of the Latinx experience.
“This album grapples with and transgresses these binaries because we have/and continue to cross borders,” Dos Santos explains. “Yet, for us, the border is no metaphor—too much real staring back at us… And borders were at the center of these struggles. Borders—of nation, of belonging—are the struggle.”
Dos Santos’ City of Mirrors tour brings them to the ATX for a show tomorrow night, Thursday August 11, at The Far Out Lounge and Stage, 8504 S. Congress Ave. They share the bill with Denver-based Latin psych outfit Los Alcos. Doors open at 6 p.m.
