Feeling the Melody With Night Moves Fest Headliner Alvvays

By Savannah Evanoff

melodic capacity was pretty deep," O'Hanley said. "I kind of feel like I exist to assist in many ways, so I love getting the germ of an idea and trying to water it with someone and see what sprouts, and Molly is just sort of a fountain of melodic ideas and funny lyrics; she was so receptive to The Replacements records I was lending her and The Smiths and Teenage Fan Club and all this stuff."

They're fortunate they can listen to the same stuff, he said, mentioning Rankin was an Oasis zealot growing up.

"She ended up getting tickets for the Toronto show coming up later this year, so she's pumped."

'UNHINGED ENERGY'

While new music is in the more long-term goal category, they're always writing; it never stops. O'Hanley said his strength is in reharmonizing, i.e., putting different chords together for Rankin's melodies.

"She's the best melody maker I know," O'Hanley said. "We just go down into our respective dungeons mentally, and then if we find anything down there worth showing the other, then we show off our shiny objects … Usually, we'll run into a roadblock of some sort compositionally that the other person can typically help resolve in fairly speedy fashion."

Because this year marks the 10th anniversary of their first album recorded with Chad VanGaalen, they made a version remastered specifically for vinyl that will drop later this year.

"We don't play it every night, but for whatever reason, I'm into The Psychedelic Furs quite a bit lately, and that one kind of scratches that itch for me," O'Hanley said. "But 'Tile By Tile' has been fun to play lately, too. For whatever reason, it's a little more technically demanding. I don't play a ton of guitar, but it's just a funny cartoon of a little pop song."

They look forward to performing at Night Moves Fest—and in Florida specifically. They've had good Florida experiences; he distinctly remembers they played "where the Seminoles play."

"That was a funny one; that was the one show, our one and only show [where] our manager at the time mixed like he was the sound guy, so it was a weird unicorn in our minds," O'Hanley said. "But Tampa and Orlando this year were—I don't know—it felt like there was some pent-up energy that was released both nights. We were looking around; it had that kind of chaotic, jittery, excited, unhinged energy that you reach for on certain nights and just isn't there. But the crowds of Florida were actually insane."

ALVVAYS AT NIGHT MOVES FEST*

WHAT: An outdoor music festival featuring Alvvays, Silversun Pickups, Beach Fossils, Tigers Jaw and more

WHEN: 1-11 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 9

"If you start having a wandering eye toward critical consensus or something like that, then it's

"I could immediately see something emerging from that seed," O'Hanley said.

They didn't have a gestation period, he added.

"I feel like we weren't totally fully formed when we started tracking, but we were close enough to get the point across, and Molly's

They've enjoyed playing many of the selftitled tracks lately; they have as much fun playing older material as newer stuff. In other words, they're not one of those bands that denigrate the old stuff in order to artificially prop up the new, O'Hanley said.

He likes playing some of the weirder ones (tracks), alluding to "Velveteen" from the album "Blue Rev."

WHERE: Hunter Amphitheater at Community Maritime Park, 301 W. Main St. COST: $59.99 GA, $199.99 VIP

DETAILS: alvvays.com, nightmovesfest.com

*For more on Night Moves Fest, turn to page 12.