For a band standing on the brink of entering the “mainstream,” Los Angeles-based band IO Echo shrugs off any attempt to define itself and its genre. “What is alt rock?” says Leopold Ross, IO Echo’s bassist and programmer. “I think it’s a term coined by journalists to classify music. I hope IO Echo doesn’t fit into it.”

Despite Ross’ reservations, IO Echo – slated to perform at the Orpheum Theater on April 7 – is a rising up-and-comer on the alt rock music scene. Its Madison stop is only one in a series of nationwide performances, culminating at the world-famous Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival in mid-April. Serving as opener for Garbage, an alt-rock band formed in 1994, Ross views IO Echo’s current tour as an opportunity.

“We were very excited [about performing with Garbage],” Ross said, describing IO Echo members as fans of the Madison-based band. “It’s been a really good experience playing with them. They put on a fantastic show and have been really welcoming to us.”

Compared to the almost two-decade-old Garbage, IO Echo’s journey has only begun. Its first album, Ministry of Love, was only released a few days ago, in early April. Despite their nascent journey, IO Echo members already have a good idea about what they want their releases to be like going forward. “We wanted to make sure that we created a well-rounded album,” Ross said. “Something more experimental rather than just a collection of songs.”

Albums can be much more than several pieces arrayed on a disc, Ross argued. Many of the songs on Ministry of Love deal with the subject of loss, a subject Ross said emerged as work on the album progressed.

Despite this philosophy, IO Echo acknowledges that they’ve still got a long way to go. “Our whole artistic process is in a continual state of evolution,” Ross said. “I would expect our future material to evolve as well. We’re perfectionists, so there are always things that we feel could have spent more time on.”

Although IO Echo would like their releases to be nothing less than perfect, Ross recognizes that some things even time can’t fix. “At some point, you have to let things go and take their own life,” he said, comparing music to another similar artistic endeavor: photography. “A good friend of mine once said that a recording of a song is like a photograph,” he remembered. “It’s a moment captured, but the song lives on and evolves beyond it.”

While one might think that performing at one of the world’s largest rock festivals may be enough to put jitterbugs in anyone’s stomach, IO Echo is taking it in stride, seeing it as one of their biggest accomplishments. “We’re buying a shitload of sun block,” Ross said. “We are definitely excited. To be on the bill at Coachella feels like an honor and an achievement.”

The road ahead is still wide open for IO Echo, and Ross believes there’s still plenty more to explore. “I prefer to continually look forward rather than slow down and take stock,” he said. “What I do next is more important to me than what I just did.”

On a similar note, IO Echo’s future is still very much up in the air. “Our immediate plans are … to support Ministry of Love,” he said. “Beyond that, I can’t say. We’ve never really had a blueprint or a game plan. We just do what feels right in the moment.”

IO Echo will be playing at the Orpheum Theater on April 7 at 7:30 p.m. Tickets will be available for purchase on Saturday at the Orpheum box office.