London – So, just when you thought the world was running out of great tunes, along came Alvvays. There are nine of them on its self-titled 2014 debut album while four new songs worked in to the band’s brisk hour-long set heralded more to come. The Toronto five-piece was in London town to shower affection on an audience full of youthful commitment; indeed a mirror to the band itself. Early comers were treated to proficient support sets by the adrenalin-fueled Kentuckians, White Reaper, and a distinctly Dylanish Kevin Morby whose repertoire was nicely buffed by his two band mates on slide guitar/bass and drums. Both acts warmed up a crowd that wasn’t quite ready to call a halt to summer, despite the descending September evening temperature outside.
A fanfare of celtic pipes and drones welcomed Alvvays onto the stage of the spacious Shepherds Bush Empire which has seen life as an old-time music hall, television theatre and latterly concert venue. The shabby chic grandeur of this 2,000 capacity hall, set out with a seated balcony hovering over a large standing area, seemed appropriate for frontwoman Molly Rankin’s dress-down demeanour. Never one to oversell her obvious charms, Rankin cut a slight figure in a black shapeless dress and chunky white sneakers, flanked by Kerri MacLellan, curating that librarian look. The keyboardist coordinated well with the lighting; her orange jacket adding a splash of colour over a dark denim outfit; the boys in the band – guitarist Alec O’Hanley and the rhythm section of Brian Murphy (bass) and Phil MacIsaac (drums) – adding a preppy note to all this.
Kicking off with the short sharp shock of “Your Type” followed by a bright, guitar and synth-driven “Adult Diversion”, the band hit the ground running. Pausing to recall that ‘we opened here for our friends Real Estate nine months ago’ Rankin added that they never thought they’d be back so soon (as headliners). In an aside soon after, she dropped a scattily amusing anecdote about ‘meeting my hero Noel Gallagher’ recently and mentioning the band name to which Gallagher responded ‘Always… like the shampoo?’ and Rankin countered ‘No, the tampons’ before the Brit had the last word with ‘You’re worth it’. Ah, the rock n’roll life, eh readers!
As the set progressed you were stuck by how well Alvvays meshed together with arresting melodies tightly executed by all five members. Molly Rankin’s voice is quite delicate but never gets overwhelmed; when you think it’s about to go flat, it suddenly recovers as evidenced in vocal rises and falls in “The Agency Group”. New song “Hey” recalls The Monkees in its structure and O’Hanley’s sitar-like guitar effect added a fitting psychedelic twist. The band’s sound is mostly trebly as you would expect from its lo-fi retro roots so having the bass more to the fore during the standout “Ones Who Love You” really added to the song’s depth.
There was scarcely a dip in the pace or quality of the set but things really stoked up with crowd pleaser “Party Police”: ‘You don’t have to leave / You could just stay here with me / Forget all the party police / We could find comfort in debauchery.’ OK, Molly, we’re going nowhere, really. The lovely bit towards the end of the song when her voice cracks an octave just seals it. New song, the fast paced “New Haircut” got a sizeable section of the downstairs crowd pogoing while closing the set with the glorious “Archie, Marry Me” turned this into a near mosh pit. OK I do forgive rhyming matrimony with alimony now.
More was then duly delivered through two encores: Molly Rankin really showed off her vocal strength performing “Red Planet” solo against a backing track while the Kirsty MacColl cover “He’s on the Beach” slotted effortlessly into the Alvvays catalogue. Meanwhile there’s a guy who works down the Chip Shop who swears he’s Elvis and I think he’d dig Alvvays too.
Photography by Maja Smiejkowska
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Set list:
Your Type
Adult Diversion
Next of Kin
The Agency Group
Hey
Ones Who Love You
Underneath Us
Atop a Cake
Dives
Party Police
New Haircut
Archie, Marry Me
Encore:
Red Planet
He’s on the Beach (Kirsty MacColl cover)
Tony Hardy
Tony’s great passion in life is music and nothing gives him more pleasure than unearthing good, original new music and championing independent musicians. His association with Best New Bands brings great opportunities for this. He also writes for Consequence of Sound and is a judge for Glastonbury Festival’s Emerging Talent Competition.
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