Alvvays at the Roundhouse

Alvvays (apparently pronounced Always, which might provoke the question, why not spell it that way too) are a Canadian band from Toronto. For once not one of my finds, but my mate Andy persuaded me to come along. (As fair swap, I got tickets for Franz Ferdinand the night after.)

Friday night and we escaped too late to get a decent meal, so we went to Nandos. My first ever Nandos. It was everything I expected, and less. I think its fair to say I won't be a regular. But we got in with enough time to spare before the main act, although just after the support.

Anyway, how to describe Alvvays? Well of all the bands I listen to they remind me most of Belle & Sebastian. As Andy rightly said (he is very sound on musical matters) they don't really have any banging tunes, but just consistently good. Basically jaunty, jangly pop, hence my comparison to B & S. But with the striking difference of very fine female vocals over the top from singer songwriter Molly Rankin.

The catch though for me, and there is often a catch, is that the live performance doesn't offer anything much over listening to their cds at home. They don't ooze personality, there is nothing much to watch on stage, the light backdrop was rather dull - abstract and often looking like bacteria under a microscope - and the sound is not really any rockier than on record. So my observation would be fine, but nothing too inspired.

Interesting to see the crowd too. A lot of young women around 25-35, and a lot of hipsters. I have never really thought about what music hipsters listen to (hipsters haven't reached as far as my end of suburbia) but it seems it might be this.

(Ch, and photos courtesy of Andy too, I forgot my camera. And being 6 foot 5 Andy can take photos over the top of the crowd on his smartphone better than me. Cheers mate)