Wild Rivers has a new album out titled Never Better.
Reviews and recommendations are unbiased and products are independently selected. Postmedia may earn an affiliate commission from purchases made through links on this page.
Wild Rivers
When: Oct. 7, 8 p.m.
Where: Orpheum Theatre
Toronto folk-pop trio Wild Rivers released its third full-length album in late July. Out on Vancouver-based Nettwerk Music Group, Never Better follows 2022s Sidelines.
The group gained an avid following with that record, a 2023 Juno nomination in the breakthrough group of the year category, and an opening slot on the Chicks world tour that year.
With the new single Backfire making the rounds, Devan Glover, Andrew Oliver and Khalid Yassein are heading out on the road in support of the new recording with a stop at the Orpheum Theatre this week. Produced by Gabe Wax, whose credits include the War on Drugs and Soccer Mommy, the new songs are tone-focused servings of laid back folk harmonies paired with a healthy dollop of moving into adulthood melancholy.
Reflecting on the trio’s trajectory from college friends who jammed together, to arena tours and playing sold out theatre shows, Andrew Oliver mused on making music with Wild Rivers.
Q: Some bands slog it out for ages to get where you are now. What’s your story?
Andrew Oliver: The two singers, Dev and Khal, had played some coffee houses together in college when I met them and we played a show together that went really well. That lead to a second show and then we were borrowing Khal’s mom’s minivan to travel around to gigs without any plan but more for the DIY adventure. Our first peek over the wall into professional music making was when we went on tour with the Paper Kites and then we were back on our own at the Commodore.
Q: Your music looks back to an earlier era that is captured in the Backfire video. How did you arrive at such a ’70s California-style sound?
A: We all came from different backgrounds, but came together around singer-songwriters like James Taylor and being able to write songs that can stand up if you just play it on acoustic guitar or piano. That’s a test we put every tune through before considering it OK. If the bones are good, you can dress it up in broad and different directions with the production and take more chances moving forward. You might not hear it, but a lot of additional work went into the final mixes.
Q: You can hear that added production in the driving pulse of the title track and soul groove of Anyways, I Love You, as examples. How many songs went through that litmus test until you had what you liked for the final eight songs on the album?
A: There were more than 40 songs sifted through, so a lot were left on the floor. But what really happened on this record was trying to get back to that snapshot of a moment in time rather than a hyper-crafted album. We went back and listened to a lot of our favourite artists and could hear when they were having fun or really putting focus on complexity and wanted to strike a good balance.
Q: That back-to-basics approach lends itself to being able to play pop-up acoustic shows like you did before the album release in a Toronto park, but how will you tour Never Better?
A: We loved doing that, but it’s inevitable that things do expand as you move along. This time around, it’s five of us. The trio and our longtime touring bass and drums rhythm session have done a few tours together now, so that’s incredibly solid. The team is also expanding to include our own sound person, lighting tech, and building more stage decor. Previously, we would be trading instruments around a lot more, but not doing that so much means we can free up Dev to really give her all and that’s been so good.
Q: After the Juno nomination, do you feel that Never Better is going to ‘the one?’
A: It seems so far that people are connecting with the songs and we see numbers and all that, but until we are out there playing the songs live we don’t really know where it is. Playing some festivals this summer and bringing out the new material and experiencing people knowing the lyrics and singing along has made it real for us.