Joy And Sorrow In Sound By Chiino

Photography by Victoria Glidden.

Chino Enriquez is a local musician who you might have seen playing an open mic at Gypsy House Cafe or Lion’s Lair Lounge with a guitar in hand. Battling the nerves of putting their deeply personal art out for public consumption, Enriquez is at a turning point in their artist journey. This singer-songwriter is stepping out of their comfort zone to give music a real try for the first time despite their lifelong relationship with music.

“My dad is a musician, so I grew up around a bunch of dudes who were playing music all the time. My dad was a vocal teacher as well. I was always really shy about [music], because I didn’t want to follow in his footsteps, but he got me on vocal training and stuff when I was really young. I was always singing as a kid, honestly, all of the time,” shared Enriquez.

Growing up in Knoxville, Tennessee and Colorado Springs, Enriquez was deep in the world of Bluegrass, Jonny Cash and The Ramones. Street performers in Tennessee, romantic partners with good taste and exposure to their father’s musical interests kept sound buzzing around them through the difficulties of their young life. As handling life at home became more and more complicated Enriquez turned to music as a means of processing.

“Music has purely come from coping, I never intended to pursue music until very recently. It was very much ‘I have all of these emotions and I’m gonna burst if I don’t let them out.’ [Music] usually comes from a lot of sadness and grief. I feel a really intense emotion that I just can’t get out and then the guitar and the lyrics come. It’s usually a stream of consciousness; how I’m feeling,” said Enriquez.

As they gained autonomy over their day-to-day life, visual art became a career path to explore, though even with success it didn’t quite feel right.

“I got to a point where I had my art up in places and I thought, ‘this isn’t what I want to do,’ I had the realization that I’ve been running away from doing music my whole life,” said Enriquez. With recent events and their realization about the path of visual art, the music pseudonym of Chiino became their new priority. Now, with their first EP out, they are working to expand their audience locally and make music a career. This is no easy task in todays economy, but their passion and talent drive them forward towards this career of art.

“When I wrote I’ll Tell You When You’re Older, it was just pure, vomiting all of my emotions and I got that out of my system. Now I’m gonna take this seriously and figure out what I want to say,” said Enriquez.

With this shift Enriquez began performing live and is now planning their next project with access to a new studio. The opportunity to collaborate with more local musicians and simultaneously develop their sound into its next stages is exciting alongside their more personal goals with music.

“I need to represent my community and I need to hold space for people like me. That’s been inspiring a lot of my music right now,” shared Enriquez. “Having a lot to say and knowing the things that I have to say are fucking important and relevant, and people relate. The feedback that I’m getting from people when I perform is super inspiring too.”

Despite their recent shift in this direction it is clear that Enriquez explored music throughout their life. Their voice fills each note with emotion and dances with their nimble guitar lines intricately. The soul of their past is brought to the front of each song as they tell truths of their experience and stand their ground through complex relationships.

Be on the lookout for new music from Enriquez and follow along on Instagram for updates.