Seattle-based band Ivan & Alyosha seamlessly blend the rustic sounds of folk music with hard-hitting lyrics and invigorating instrumentals.
The group, composed of Tim Wilson, Ryan Carbary, Pete Wilson, Tim Kim and Cole Mauro, recently kicked off their “Better Late Than Never” tour on Sept. 21 in Nashville. They made a stop at the Red Room @ Cafe 939 in Boston on Sept. 26.
“It’s been such a weird couple of years that it was almost a scary thought; coming out and doing this. But it does feel good to be a few shows in, and things are going well,” said Tim Wilson, vocalist and co-founder of the band.
As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, Ivan & Alyosha are on the road for the first time since 2016, according to Tim Wilson. The band is elated to be back on tour after postponing their spring 2020 tour.
“With the pandemic, we had several weeks of a tour booked that we never got to go on,” Wilson said. “We’re kind of doing some rebuilding of sorts but it’s been really nice to get back out and play for people who have long supported the band.”
Live, the group’s unique sound fills a room. Ivan & Alyosha was sure to interact with the audience often, and the intimate atmosphere allowed audience members to seamlessly connect with the music.
Ivan & Alyosha is a well-rounded group, and each instrumentalist’s part flawlessly blends with the others. While listening to their music live, it is clear that the group has spent many years creating music with one another.
The band released their latest single “High and Dry,” on Sept. 23. The single is a cover of the original by Radiohead, released on their 1995 album “The Bends.”
“We decided to start the album process with something that we knew would be really inspiring. Covering a Radiohead song, as scary as that is, ‘High and Dry’ is such a gorgeous song that we knew we would just kind of have fun with it,” Wilson said.
Wilson said that covering a Radiohead song was a lot of pressure, but that during recording, the song just flowed from Ivan & Alyosha.
“We recorded it, and it just kind of came out. We changed a few things, but tried to do the song justice. We weren’t going to change a lot, because, why would you?” said Wilson.
Though the group was unable to get on the road for their spring 2020 tour during the pandemic, there was no lapse in music output for them.
“It certainly changed a lot of things for us,” Wilson said. “As far as our output, we didn’t pull back. We released a couple of EPs, then we released the full length, even though we knew we weren’t going to be able to tour it.”
Wilson also explained that the group recorded a record with the Seattle Symphony.
“It was kind of this huge opportunity for us,” Wilson said.
Wilson and Carbary founded the band in 2007, naming the group after two characters from “The Brothers Karamazov,” a novel by Fyodor Dostoevsky. Rival characters in the novel, Ivan and Alyosha have juxtaposing beliefs on the world and religion.
“The band started with just Ryan and I, so ‘Ivan and Alyosha’ made more sense in the beginning. I would say personality-wise, while we’ve changed a lot since we first started out, Ryan is definitely quite a bit more thoughtful and quiet and I probably am a bit louder and would express my opinion quicker,” Wilson said.
According to Wilson, the name was originally given to himself and Carbary by a friend, Eli Thomson, who now plays bass guitar for musician Father John Misty. After seeing the dynamic Cabarry and Wilson were creating for their band, Thomson told them he had a great name for them.
“There’s darker moments and there’s more hopeful moments. We like to ask meaningful questions and write songs that mean something to us.” Wilson said. “What people do is look at the book, and a lot of the themes that Dostoevsky frequents, and kind of project that onto the music.”
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