REVIEW: Inner Wave - See You When I Get Back

Is it summer yet?

36:08 // February 27, 2026 // Nettwerk

The promotional materials which I received for See You When I Get Back include this snippet, a quote courtesy of guitarist Elijah Trujillo - “We started to notice that the most energy we’d get from the audience was from upbeat songs”. In a vacuum, this feels like an unsurprising, even obvious, statement, but when taken in context of the release of the LA neo-psych band Inner Wave’s first LP in five years, it’s a refreshingly clear statement of intent - the crowd likes faster-paced, high-energy tunes, so that’s what we’ll give them.

Having listened to previous record Apoptosis, the band wasn’t previously averse to this style, but it’s clear that they’ve made a deliberate effort to deliver relentlessly vibrant and driving songs this time around. To be exact, there are thirteen songs, most under three minutes in length, and without fail they are brash, in-your-face, maximalist, a little goofy, and most importantly, fun.

That excessively long string of adjectives makes clear that it’s easy to wax about what’s right with this formula. These songs are propelled by unstoppable momentum, not to mention bouncy grooves - it might all feel like dumb fun, but not everything needs to be profound, let alone intellectual. At its best, like when the shimmering synths take over “Big Foot” or in the relentlessly catchy second-half duo of “If You Like” and “Only For Your Eyes”, Inner Wave shoot their shot at a summer album par excellence, something far from unappealing for a writer still recovering from the latest local blizzard.

The album’s weaknesses only become apparent when the dazzle of the aforementioned highlights fades from center stage - the rest of the songs are reliably propulsive and good-timey, and probably will sound wonderful live, but lack quite the melodies or to-the-moon hooks which would make them sing quite the way you wish they would. The record’s garage rock spirit and the band’s ample energy is enough to carry it throughout as a steadily enjoyable listen, but most of these tunes are unlikely to stick with you when you’re not listening to them. All that’s to say that See You When I Get Back feels more like a momentary pleasure than a sunshine-drenched masterpiece it occasionally flirts with being, even as its single-minded devotion to its mission of churning out neo-psych bops is laudable. Still, the results are good enough for me - I’m still waiting for summer, but this will do for now.

7.0/10