Canadian indie rockers
Kiwi Jr. bloomed when they moved from their hometown of Charlottetown, Prince Edward Islands to Toronto in the mid-2010s, imbuing their spirited college pop with a distinctive big-city romanticism. The band took cues from a lineage of jangly slacker pop acts from the '80s and '90s for their bright and bounding 2019 debut
Football Money and signed on with Sub Pop for their 2021 sophomore effort
Cooler Returns.
Kiwi Jr. were formed by four friends in 2015. Made up of guitarist/vocalist
Jeremy Gaudet, drummer
Brohan Moore, bassist Mike Walker, and second guitarist
Brian Murphy, the band's sound was one-part
Pavement's snarky melodicism, one-part C-86 jangle, and sprinklings of restless wit in their lyrics about house parties, strange friends, and suburban landscapes. The band moved to Toronto shortly after forming, integrating themselves in the music scene there.
Murphy split his time between playing guitar with
Kiwi Jr. and bass in
Alvvays, as the former band worked on their debut album between 2016 and 2017. In that time, a single demo was the band's only recorded output, but they played around Toronto constantly. It wouldn't be until 2019 that they began working with Mint Records and
Football Money saw a wide release. The next year they signed esteemed indie label Sub Pop and began releasing tracks from their upcoming sophomore effort
Cooler Returns. The album arrived in January of 2021. ~ Fred Thomas