Ivan & Alyosha: Brick + Mortar Music Hall, San Francisco, CA 03/24/2013


Photo credit: Joan Bowlen

The old adage holds true: some things are worth waiting for. During the delightful insanity that was Austin’s SXSW Music Week, my schedule had never coincided with an Ivan & Alyosha performance, much to my chagrin. And then at Brick & Mortar’s show last Wednesday, it seemed like we might never make it passed sound check, which had me, and the rest of the sold-out house, feeling antsy. But finally the “check one, two, check one, two” ceased and the stage was given over to the band. They immediately launched into a rousing rendition of “Be Your Man” that dispelled any doubts the audience might have had about the timbre of the show to follow.

Simultaneously sultry and ernest, “Be Your Man” had the entire house stomping and shouting the lyrics along with Tim Wilson as he expounded that he wanted to “be your boy, be your boy.” The song is an interesting one, as in the hands of another group, it could come across as cloying and simplistic, but Ivan & Alyosha, with their upbeat rhythms and expressive style, are able to make the words sound sincere and heartfelt. Their similar treatment of songs like “Easy to Love” and “Don’t Want to Die Anymore” left the audience feeling uplifted and engaged, with many a head bobbing along to the band’s energetic tempo.

The band is comprised of Tim Wilson on lead vocals and acoustic guitar, Ryan Carbary (guitars, piano and vocals), Tim’s brother Pete Wilson (bass and vocals), and Tim Kim on electric guitar and vocals, with a revolving array of guest performers and friends on keyboards and drums. Based out of Seattle, they have been touring their debut album All The Times We Had since the fall of 2012 and have definitely found their collective voice. Their lyrical harmonies, combined with their deft and enthusiastic instrumentation, make the album’s songs truly come alive onstage.

Songs from All The Times We Had made up the majority of Ivan & Alyosha’s setlist, but they included two songs from former EPs. “I Was Born to Love Her” off of 2011’s Fathers Be Kind EP followed immediately after “Easy to Love” and felt like a natural extension of the song’s melodic declaration of love and devotion. Later in the show, “Beautiful Lie” from 2009’s The Verse, The Chorus EP, provided a shift in lyrical sentiments with its grittier depiction of love as a “life so short, everybody dies, so live a beautiful lie”. The song also rocks-out a bit more than the mellower love songs, allowing Tim Kim to really showcase his musical dexterity on the electric guitar.

The band ended the show with a compelling rendition of “Running for Cover” which combined the lyrical prowess of some of their slower songs while presenting an anthemic sound. The instrumentation of the song continually builds as the vocals repeatedly chant “running for cover, running to hide”, creating that trance-like state that is the key to a good jam session. The band members threw themselves into this song and took the audience right along with them until the final notes came crashing down and we all erupted into applause. Seeing a band exist so fully within their songs and get such pleasure out of performing them is what makes live music great and what makes Ivan & Alyosha a must-see performance.

Setlist:
Be Your Man
Fathers Be Kind
Easy to Love
I Was Born to Love Her
God or Man
Falling
Beautiful Lie
The Fold
On My Way
Who Are You
Running For Cover


Photo credit: Joan Bowlen


Photo credit: Joan Bowlen


Photo credit: Joan Bowlen

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