The Heavy Heavy will perform Thursday, July 24.

The Heavy Heavy are not the first band of the 21st Century to evoke classic 1960s sounds and they certainly won’t be the last, but there’s something different about the duo of Georgie Fuller and William Turner and their crackerjack band. Fuller and Turner don’t just sound ‘60s-inspired. Play their debut album, last year’s One of a Kind, in a mix with records from Jefferson Airplane, The Mamas and The Papas, or any other of The Heavy Heavy’s admitted influences and you’d be hard-pressed to identify which recording wasn’t made in 1968. These aren’t musicians who wear their love of their favourite bands on their sleeves — Fuller, Turner, and crew embody them to the core.

Nostalgia aside, much of The Heavy Heavy’s appeal is their dedication to pure rock and pop brightness — their songs range from pretty folk-pop sunshine to heavy groove-laden psychedelic jams. In the studio, The Heavy Heavy is primarily Turner’s baby — he pieces together guitar, bass, piano, organ, Melotron, and other flourishes — but the full five-piece live band adds considerable pep that comes alive in the group’s electric live shows. The Heavy Heavy’s inspiration may come from the past, but when those organs are whirling, tambourines are ringing, and guitars are jangling, their time is very much in the here and now.

-Elizabeth Chorney-Booth