The Ontario-based alt-folk duo, The Waverlys have unveiled a video for their newest single, “Dark River”.
The “Dark River” music video was a collaboration between The Waverlys and audiovisual collective VERSA and was filmed and edited by Alanna Gurr. Dark River was filmed at The Common Cafe in Guelph, ON.
Check out the video below and find out more about The Waverlys in our Five Questions With segment.
Care to introduce yourself to our readers?
We are The Waverlys – an alternative-folk duo from Guelph and Toronto. Charlotte is a classically trained cellist and Kevin in a singer-songwriter. We’re led by sincere, haunting vocals and interwoven instrumentals that together tell timeless tales of love, loss, and rebellion.
Tell us a bit about your music and writing style.
Our music is both complex and simple, featuring layered arrangements combined with basic instrumentation. We both sing so that offers a wide range of moods and perspectives woven into our music. Our music spans many genres and styles, our EP ‘Good Girl’ goes from an indie track to a power ballade, to Dark River: a rock tune and finished with an endearing folk tune. From the start, we’ve been really dedicated to our songwriting process which means working for hours on end obsessing over every small detail of each tune until it’s just right – others would likely find our writing and practice sessions tedious but it’s what has always felt natural to us. Sometimes when we think we’ve completed a song, we listen to it and say “put up your hand when you’re bored” and if we can get through a full song without someone’s hand going up – that’s our goal – to always be doing something interesting.
Do you have any upcoming shows? For someone who has yet to see you live, how would you explain your live performance?
Our live performances feature 2 lead voices, a cello, a guitar, a ton of harmonies and sometimes a vintage suitcase turned into a kick drum. We manage to make our live sets sound quite full by both of us playing multiple instruments and singing at the same time. We always plan our sets so that no two similar-sounding songs are beside each other, giving the audience a variety of genres, moods, and sounds throughout the set. In between songs, we’re always trying to make you laugh with some witty banter.
We’ve been busy back in the studio recording a new EP! But we do have some great shows lined up this fall, two shows in Guelph – one at the ANAF on September 21st and one at Silence Sounds on November 1st, we will also be playing a show or two in Toronto so check our website or socials for updates on those!
If you were asked to suggest only one of your songs for someone to hear, which would it be?
That’s tricky! We would probably have to go with Save Me as it has this emotional and cinematic quality that we gravitate towards. The song is also about someone’s struggles with mental health, which is something that is really important to both of us. The song was added to an official Spotify playlist which allowed it to be heard by quite a few people, some of whom have reached out to us. We’ve been able to connect with people who have heard the song and explain how it helped them through their healing process and thank us for writing it, or asking for the chords so they can cover it themselves – that, to us, is really why we create music.
Canadian Beats is all about Canadian music, so who are your current favourite Canadian bands/ artists?
We love so many! We would have to say that Feist has had a huge influence on us – we love everything she does. We’ve also recently been really into La Force and look forward to seeing her live this Fall. We saw Andy Shauf together at Massey Hall in Toronto, he was one of the last people to play Massey Hall before they started renovations and it was incredible, he’s been a big inspiration for us.