Wild Rivers are – fittingly – a band that has gone with the movement throughout their musical profession. The trio of Devan Glover, Khalid Yassein and Andrew Oliver have been buying and selling vocal harmonies and guitar strains since they fashioned in Kingston, Ontario in 2015, and since then have been consistently growing their sound.

The band launched their first self-titled file a 12 months after they fashioned. On it they discover their love of that thriving 2010s indie-folk scene. After this, the trio would proceed to hone their craft throughout plenty of EPs, till in 2020 they had been prepared to move into the studio once more for a brand new full-length – Sidelines arrived in 2022, its manufacturing sadly protracted by the arrival of lockdown. It was principally made remotely, however the band nonetheless discovered methods to deepen their sound.

Wild Rivers’ newest album By no means Higher, launched in the summertime of this 12 months, sees the band look again upstream and replicate on their previous travels – the manufacturing was carried out all collectively out within the desert, a far cry from emailing information to one another. And the songwriting itself is much less outlined by heartbreak than earlier releases – the EP Songs to Break Up To included. Their introspective indie-folk has gained a right away, upbeat edge – the band’s core id nonetheless stays, however hit play on the album and the drums, synth and guitar strains of the opening and title observe make it clear the band have embraced extra than simply the people aspect of indie.

The convenience with which the band have embraced a brand new sonic palette whereas retaining the really feel of their band appears to be at the very least partly all the way down to how every of the trio has embraced a semi-producer function – as Andrew places it, within the studio, “we cross issues round – everybody performs each instrument.”

We spoke to Khalid and Andrew about navigating that change, in addition to making the recording course of as enjoyable and tactile as doable in distinction to their ‘pandemic album’, the supportive joys of being in a band and why they’re eager to not get ‘misplaced within the sauce’ in relation to gear.

How would you sum up Wild Rivers as a undertaking?

Khalid Yassein: We don’t have the perfect elevator pitch for it – we sort of hop from style to style. It began as a duo with me and the opposite singer, Devan – our heroes had been James Taylor, Paul Simon and so forth, the basic 70s singer-songwriters. It was very acoustic-based, we might say we had been indie people.

We got here up in that post-Lumineers, post-Mumford and Sons period – that scene was a bunch of our trendy inspirations. However now, we’re leaning much more indie than we’re indie people. So it’s guitar music, there’s synths, we prefer to have enjoyable with the manufacturing – however at its core, it’s nonetheless actually song-based. Our aim is to remain that method – like, take Neil Younger – you wouldn’t be capable to describe the style, as a result of he tries so many issues, nevertheless it’s all simply constructed across the songwriting.

Devan has spoken in interviews about how a few of By no means Higher’s method got here from wanting again over your catalogue and realising how a lot of it was outlined by heartbreak – is that one thing that rings true?

Ok: I consider it as a life-style philosophy of simply rising up. Through the years, we’ve had heartbreak, we’ve had tough instances, the ebbs and flows of being in our 20s and being in a band collectively – a number of our music was and is kind of reflective, critical and sombre. That’s simply a part of us, a part of what we do, however our tastes are past that – some data that we love are very vivid and enjoyable, and discover a wider vary of human feelings.

We’re at a spot as a band the place we would like every part to be enjoyable. We actually wish to play, and play dwell – we wish to really feel that pull, quite than simply being little emo children in our bed room. So an enormous a part of this album was impressed by the dwell present – we’ve hit the street exhausting the previous couple of years, and turn out to be an awesome dwell band, so we wish to make a file that feels trustworthy, however is huge and dynamic and enjoyable to play dwell.

That was our compass for the brand new file – we don’t have to enter an eight-minute introspective people ballad about our emotions. Let’s begin the file with a bunch of guitars and hop proper in, and do one thing slightly extra in your face.

Andrew Oliver: It was an intentional aim to make the precise recording course of far more enjoyable. The file earlier than By no means Higher, Sidelines, we did over the pandemic – we began within the studio collectively, however then needed to all go to separate locations. So we’re simply sending information backwards and forwards. And it ended up taking a few years.

So we wished to do By no means Higher in the exact opposite method – we arrange in a circle on this barn within the desert, and made positive we had been at all times recording at the very least two issues directly. It made it a lot extra enjoyable.

You talked about the dwell present informing the songwriting course of – had been these songs road-tested earlier than they had been recorded?

A: We sort of imagined that we had road-tested them, in that we tried to consider how they’d work dwell. We’ve at all times talked about wanting to do this – the songs at all times get method higher as we carry out them, and we find yourself preferring the dwell variations [laughs] – it’s at all times like ‘rattling, want we’d recorded that model!’

Ok: Yeah, I don’t suppose we performed any of those songs dwell earlier than recording them. It was simply the timing of it – we had been in record-making mode after we received off tour, so we didn’t actually have an opportunity. However we’re beginning to play them now, which is cool, and our method is being validated. Like what Andy stated, we had been at all times considering one thing like ‘what would we wish to hear dwell proper now, after this verse?’ simply utilizing these instinctual cues. And now that we’re enjoying these songs dwell – they’re higher for it, as we’ve trimmed a number of the fats. That’s the full-circle second for the file for us – we make it, we launch it, nevertheless it’s nonetheless not actual but – however then we play it dwell and see folks singing it, and that’s what makes it actual.

There’s a number of other ways you possibly can layer up effects-heavy guitar elements – did you go down the plugins and multi results route, or was it extra analogue, extra actual amps?

A: We have now this argument… [laughs]

Ok: We’re huge time actual amp folks. I at all times use an actual amp. We have now this competition rig, as a result of I hate utilizing backline amps that simply don’t work, and I used to be exploring the UA amp pedals for it – I simply couldn’t get tone for me out of it in any respect.

A: I’m laughing, as a result of didn’t we now have this dialog within the studio about Kemper?

Ok: Who pushed for Kemper?

A: Wasn’t it you?

Ok: By no means – actually by no means, and also you rumour-mongering about that on this discussion board is insane! [laughs] – we each love amps, I’ve a classic Fender Princeton combo that’s certainly one of my favorite issues I personal, Andrew has a Princeton too, and we had a few previous Gibson amps within the studio.

I additionally had this projector amp from this man Austen Hooks referred to as the Area Heater – it’s this bizarre transformed movie projector that’s received this superior thick, saturated sound that we used for lots of stuff. We had been operating synths by way of it, and even drums too.

After which the kitchen desk had like, 50 pedals on it that we had been simply swapping out and in. So with a number of assist from Gabe Wax, our producer, we organized issues dwell within the studio – I play a Tele, Andy often performs a On line casino. One in every of us takes the harmonic rhythm factor, after which we consider lead elements and attempt to dance round one another with that.

However lots of people most likely discuss this identical factor: tone conjures up every part and guidelines all. And if you will get issues to take a seat within the room the place issues match collectively tonally, they fill within the gaps – it’s probably the most satisfying and galvanizing factor. It actually informs the elements.

A: Gabe has engineered and produced Battle On Medicine and Soccer Mommy data – and a bunch of different superior guitar albums. So he was main the cost on the way to seize all of it. It was an entire mess of substances and wires, nevertheless it was tremendous enjoyable tone searching collectively.

Ok: We did have some superior direct-in sounds too – we wished to do a observe that contrasted all the opposite effects-heavy stuff – there’s a lead line that’s sort of referencing an Al Inexperienced file, that had Andrew’s On line casino plugged right into a JHS Shade Field, and we went direct with that – we needed to ship it again after it received combined, as our mixer had simply souped it with reverb! We had been like, ‘no, we did this very deliberately’ [laughs].

We love results and all, however you may also, you may also get misplaced within the sauce, and conceal behind them. A giant a part of this file is attempting to make cool sounds, however hold them minimal – we performed a competition over the summer season with one other band that shall stay unnamed, and we had an enormous jam session afterwards. One man had the sickest, greatest pedalboard, however simply couldn’t play dwell, couldn’t jam. It was a a logo of what we don’t wish to be: so within the tone zone that we will’t improvise or be dynamic musicians.

You don’t wish to get misplaced within the synth sauce both, that’s an entire different rabbit gap…

A: Yeah, we nonetheless like the thought of utilizing synths, however we wished it to have extra of a dwell really feel – we had precise keyboards on the desk. It was extra about arising with a fast half and recording that, quite than going deep on the sound itself.

Ok: We used a bunch of analogue synths that had been very enjoyable to play with and really simple. We’d be enjoying again what we’d recorded, after which everybody would have telephones on and bleep-blooping round within the room, looking for a sound – then somebody’s like, ‘okay, let me do this’. We’d plug it, attempt it by way of an amp or no matter, then simply go like ‘cool, observe it, subsequent factor.’

A: And certainly one of us could be holding the cutoff filter, and the opposite individual could be enjoying, and another person could be transferring some LFO or one thing – it was a enjoyable group exercise!

That goes again to what you had been saying about making the entire course of much more pleasant.

Ok: Yeah, and including as a lot humanity as we may. All of the little errors which might be on the file – it’s humorous how the mind works, however each time one comes up I get slightly dopamine hit. Each time like, the bass is available in early, or somebody’s testing out a sound earlier than they arrive in – we stored a number of that in, and now they’re satisfying little particulars you can return to.

On the finish of the day, we’re making pop music, that’s our style. For that we would like the vocal to be fully clear, compressed and excellent on prime, after which we will have only a trash bag beneath that – that push and pull is de facto inspiring to us.

A: It’s a humorous ego factor, too. Should you play one thing with a mistake in it, the tendency is to be like, no let me repair that – but when it occurred, the remainder of us would encourage being like, no, no, that’s it. Preserve that in there as a result of it feels proper.

Is that one thing that’s a advantage of being a ‘band’ band?

Ok: Yeah, the ethical help of the band is perhaps an unsung factor. I really feel bands have shifted the place it’s not all simply recording every part dwell within the storage – like, The 1975 is a band nonetheless, however they’re making music within the studio. However you need that philosophy, of getting folks react with one another – that may imply the producer is a part of the band, nevertheless it’s the interplay half, that’s what I really feel makes it a band, not the precise sound. One individual could make a file that seems like Pearl Jam, however that simply means overdubbing every part. However what makes it that supportive band factor is when somebody is listening to the remainder of the music and reacting to it.