Platinum-selling indie trio Wild Rivers, Khalid Yassein [guitar, vocals, keys], Devan Glover [vocals], and Andrew Oliver [lead guitar, synths], have a gift for penning introspective lyrics and genre-fluid melodies that transmit wisdom beyond their years. Since their 2022 album, Sidelines, which landed at #9 on the U.S. Spotify Debut Album Chart, they have supported The Chicks on their North American tour, seen their 2020 break-out single “Thinking ‘Bout Love” be certified Gold in Australia and Platinum in Canada, sold-out headline North American and European tours, earned over 800 million streams with 4 million monthly listeners, and were nominated for Breakthrough Group of The Year at the 2023 JUNO Awards. Wild Rivers show no signs of slowing down in 2024 as they enter the next chapter of this incredible journey, with new music on the way and a recent European support tour with Noah Kahan. This is how the band describes the album Better Now: Better Now is our companion record, and the other side to Never Better. On the first record, the songs contain raw, absolute and instinctual feelings. In many ways, Better Now is the afterglow of this. We’re reflecting and understanding that relationships change over time. Complicated situations can be just that, complicated. Feelings can remain unresolved. If the first record is bright and bold, this one is the softer gradients in between; the sunrises and the sunsets. Both projects make up the full spectrum of who we are. Better Now is just the moodier, misunderstood one. Musically the records really are twins. We wrote all of the songs at the same time. We co-produced both albums with Gabe Wax. Recording in makeshift studios between Joshua Tree and Los Angeles, California, we trusted our instincts and wanted songs to feel immediate and alive. Finishing Better Now, we really felt that it was the close of a massive musical and personal chapter. It’s bittersweet but so meaningful to be able to chronicle our lives between these projects. The ideas on Better Now are more somber, and we’re less afraid to explore the darker sides of ourselves. Ultimately, we are optimistic; “better now”, after the ups and downs of the relationships and turbulence of our twenties. Hopefully we’re wiser for it. This is how the band descibes the focus track, Still The One: ‘Still The One’ is sort of an admission and a celebration about not being over someone. Enough time has passed that you can look back on a relationship that’s over and still have love for them. The song is validating the feeling you had in the past: they were the one. You can allow yourself to be romantic, self aware, and maybe make fun of yourself. It’s too late and doesn’t matter anymore, but you’re still the one.