Live: Alvvays / Moon King

21st January

The Deaf Institute

8/10

Two bands hailing from Toronto played at Deaf Institute on Wednesday night: Moon King and Alvvays. The latter have almost certainly risen in fame since they were booked for tonight’s show, as the venue was completely sold out and they are coming back to play Academy 2 in September.

Openers Moon King announce to the crowd before their set that they “aren’t quite with it” due to having just arrived from Canada. Despite this they play a good set, and songs such as ‘Only Child’ and ‘Dreamtrap’ really show promise. However their lengthy support set definitely falls a little flat at times, and the omission of ‘Sleeping In My Car’, one of their liveliest tracks, didn’t help either.

Alvvays played a brilliant set, consisting of their whole rather short self-titled debut album, and a new song. The live setting really suited their sound, really adding energy to the guitar lines, and bringing songs such as ‘The Agency Group’ and ‘Adult Diversion’ to life. The jangly rolling riffs of ‘Next of Kin’ and ‘Atop A Cake’ proved Alvvays worthiness of one of the most enthralling bands to come out of 2014. The set closed on their most popular song ‘Archie, Marry me’, a sun soaked product of truly brilliant song writing. An encore consisting of the slower and emotive ‘Red Planet’ and ‘Dives’ proved an excellent closer to the night.

In addition to their brilliant songs, Alvvays came across as a genuinely charming band. Between songs (in her thick Canadian accent) singer Molly Rankin expressed her love for Oasis and her excitement about playing in Manchester for the first time. The combination of Canadian charm and catching a band that certainly have greater things in store for them was a classic example of why the live music scene is so exciting.