Chilean chamber pop duo Dënver have announced they are calling it quits after 13 years of making indie hearts swoon. The news broke over the weekend via a Facebook post announcing a final show this August at iconic Santiago venue Blondie, billed as “La Despedida.” Thanking their fans, team, and collaborators, the band explains that they “have decided to put a stop to Dënver’s story to seek out new paths, personally and creatively.” Fans filled the post’s comment section with personal stories of how the band’s music has soundtracked and comforted defining moments in the lives of so many.
Milton Mahan and Mariana Montenegro formed Dënver in 2004 in the town of San Felipe, located north of Santiago, Chile. Early productions from their oft-overlooked debut full-length album Totoral (2008) made Dënver standouts of the Chilean indie scene, casting the band as twee storytellers with a penchant for the cinematic. In 2010, Dënver released their Cristián Heyne-produced sophomore album Música, Gramática, Gimnasia, elevating their sound with evocative string arrangements and cheeky songwriting that thrust them into the international spotlight. Hits like “Los Adolescentes” and “Lo Que Quieras” spoke of indecisive couples, teenage awkwardness, and extreme devotion, a narrative darkness that carried over into subsequent releases. The band’s epic follow-ups Fuera de Campo (2013) and Sangre Cita (2015) fully embraced orchestral possibilities that pushed their music into hedonistic, disco-tinged territory with songs like “Revista de Gimnasia,” “Los Vampiros,” and “Mai Lov” becoming unmistakable dancefloor favorites.
Dënver are among the acts that defined Chile’s indie scene as the influential breeding ground we know it as today. The band broke up once before in 2013 at the end of the romantic relationship between Milton and Mariana. However, this separation seems more final. As their Facebook post states, “We believe this is a good time to stop and begin new solo careers (as Mariana Montenegro and Milton James), new challenges, new teams, and new adventures; the thought of where it may take us this time is still a dizzying mystery.” Milton has released several records under his Nueva Orleans moniker as well as part of production duo De Janeiros, and Mariana has long been rumored to be working on her own solo debut. Regardless, fans will always remember and love the band that promised us, “si has querido alas, pues revisa de inmediato tu espalda.”
Read the whole Facebook post below.