Wild Rivers

One Liner: Folky Canadians who have come around to a poppier, cleaner sound

Wikipedia Genre: Indie folk
Home: Toronto

Poster Position: Second Quarter - Line 11
Day: Sunday
Weekend One Only.

Thoughts: I literally just said to myself - I just want to find something new that I can listen to for a while and enjoy as I get some work done.  No disrespect to the folks I just finished reviewing, but this is a welcome find here.  I also just needed to grind on something for like 4 straight hours, so I have definitely given them a fair amount of my time.  It's very nice!

And why wouldn't it be nice to listen to a band of Canadian people who have named their band after a lovely feature of their beautiful country?  The members met at Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario and formed the band in 2013.  At first, it was just two of them - Devan Glover on vocals and Khalid Yassein on vocals and guitar - that went into the studio to make some magic.  But later they hooked up with Andrew Oliver to add more guitar and some synths to the sound.  By 2023, they were opening for the Chicks for part of their world tour.

Four albums of nice little folky tunes that every once in a while can fire up.  2016's Wild Rivers, 2022's Sidelines, 2024's Never Better, and 2024's Better Now.  "Thinking 'Bout Love" is one of only two with more than 100 million streams, at 174.5 million.  Not even on one of the albums, on a 2020 EP called Songs to Break Up To.

That one feels less like indie folk and more like an R&B-ish pop thing.  I'm sure it was a TikTok tune.  Almost has a John Mayer vibe to it, but without any guitar fireworks in the middle.  One of their two 2024 albums received a Juno nomination for Adult Alternative Album of the Year.  Their second-biggest tune was on their debut - "Speak Too Soon" has 115.5 million streams.

Now that is a little more like the Indie Folk I was expecting.  Like that Caamp band, but with a lady cranking the harmonies.  The newest album has a more polished sound than either of those - the title track has an insistent beat to it that is a little bit jittery and forward, as opposed to the lazy feel of that first disc.  "Cave" could be like a Nashville duet.  Actually, same with "Anyways, I Love You."  I could easily see that being like a Maren Morris/Brothers Osborne tune.  Not a bad thing, just a definite shift.

I'd go watch this.