When: 7.30pm on Monday 13 May 2013
Where: The Castle Hotel, 66 Oldham Street, Manchester M4 1LE

We’re excited to be bringing a Canadian double-bill to Manchester, paired with our very own Letters to Fiesta!

Ontario-based indie-pop outfit The Elwins have garnered an impressive pile of attention and praise considering their relative youth. From performing alongside acts like Tokyo Police Club and Born Ruffians or at festivals including SXSW and POP Montreal to being heralded an ‘act to watch’ by various Canadian tastemakers, The Elwins have rapidly risen the rungs of their native country’s independent music scene – and all without a full-length offering to their name; however, that’s set to change with the release of their highly-anticipated long-player And I Thank You.

http://vimeo.com/30412031

Recorded in Seattle, produced by Bill Moriarty (Dr. Dog, Man Man) and Ryan Hadlock (Blonde Redhead, Islands, Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks), and mixed by L. Stu Young (Prince, Sum 41), And I Thank You features a refined version of the band’s bouncy brand of 1960s-tinged pop first revealed on their self-titled EP in 2010. Matthew Sweeney’s soothing vocals interplay beautifully with the band’s simple-yet-substantial arrangements, resulting in a sound that’s simultaneously fresh and familiar.

Royal Canoe is a Winnipeg-based group of musicians on a mission to construct ambitious, inventive music. To do this, they are armed with voices, guitars, effects pedals, tambourines, shakers, two drummers and a six-keyboard super-weapon. The songs are thick with catchiness, rich in rhythm and are consistently pushing against the boundaries of pop music.

They spend almost every day in a shit-hole rehearsal space writing hooks, singing through effects pedals, scrawling lyrics on scraps of paper, and constructing heavy beats in odd time signatures. They create samples by running conventional sounds through unconventional pieces of gear, drumming on bathtubs and garbage cans, listening to Big Boi and manipulating bits of old records.

In 2012 the band released two EPs (Purple & Gold, Extended Play) to critical acclaim, played just shy of 100 shows around North America and gathered tons of buzz at the CMJ Music Marathon, where they were named the ‘Sleeper Hit’ of the fest by KCRW and landed spots of ‘Best of CMJ’ lists from Consequence of Sound and the New York Times. 2013 is set to be a breakout year for the band, who will release a full-length record and continue to tour everywhere.

Holding the night together are Manchester’s own indie-poppers Letters To Fiesta. The band leap into in 2013 with new sounds and a new line-up. The Manchester-based band have just released their first single, Mesosphere, and are looking forward to making 2013 their year. Described as post-punk, alternative, electronic and pop (but difficult to pin down), Letters To Fiesta are a band using vocals, soundscapes and atmosphere to create their own unique sound.

Buy tickets now. Tickets are also available from the bar, Common (both no booking fee), Piccadilly Records, Vinyl Exchange, Seetickets.com, WeGotTickets.com, Ticketline.co.uk and on 0871 220 0260.

Attend on: Facebook | Last.fm