The new Quivers single “If Only,” out last week via 7-inch and b/w a cover of Lucinda Williams’ road-tested “I Just Wanted To See You So Bad,” was recorded with a rather specific goal in mind. The cathartic Australian jangle-pop band tried to imagine “being on a festival before Joan Jett, The Motels, and The Breeders and everything goes quiet and Quivers just has to deliver something.”
That’s a festival we’d sure love to attend, and the road to that big stage deliverance begins tonight (September 14) in Allston, as Quivers kick off a North American tour at O’Brien’s Pub that rolls across the country before wrapping in Seattle early next month.
The new tracks follow a 2021 creative burst for Quivers, who re-imagined R.E.M.’s Out of Time in full, drawing praise from the iconic band, and released a sweepingly love-sad album in Golden Doubt. The sharp lyricisms and yearning melodies should echo off the walls of the Harvard Avenue rock club, where hope and disaster often hang in the balanced edge of a cold plastic cup, and the gentle low-end thump of “If Only” will likely find a permanent place in the broken souls of those in attendance.
“It felt good to make a 7-inch which is a pop song but a really confused one,” says Quivers’ Bella Quinlan, “where every line goes back and forth between different feelings — more like love is in reality.”
They’ll soon be a tough act to follow, no matter who headlines their festival. Get into it all below.
QUIVERS + LET’S WHISPER + YOURS ARE THE ONLY EARS :: Wednesday, September 14 at O’Brien’s Pub, 3 Harvard Ave. in Allston, MA :: 8 p.m., 18-plus, $15 :: Info and tickets
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