Founded by brothers Nick and Tim Ubels in British Columbia’s Fraser Valley, The Sylvia Platters have been creating well-crafted power pop and shoegaze gems for half a decade. Playing more than 80 shows across Western Canada, the band has honed their “vibrant and endlessly entertaining” live set. Since 2016, Alex Kerc-Murchison’s lyrical lead guitar lines have both expanded the band’s sonic palette and anchored it in an overarching melodic sensibility that recalls Teenage Fanclub, The Stone Roses, and Ride.

In fall 2018, the band released Shadow Steps, the first vinyl record from CIVL radio. Their third album is a split 12” LP shared with Stephen Carl O’Shea (You Say Party) and produced by Felix Fung at Little Red Sounds in New Westminster. The album peaked at #30 on the national earshot! campus and community radio charts. Chloe Hoy of The Permanent Rain Press describes Shadow Steps as “a well tuned record that binds differing takes on a common theme… explor[ing] connection with humans, within our society, and our own minds.” The Sylvia Platters have been nominated for three Fraser Valley Music Awards and one Abbotsford Arty Award.

This summer, the band performed as part of the Jam in Jubilee livestream, and released two new singles recorded in Abbotsford with producer Simon Bridgefoot (Kristin Witko, Warm Amps, David Ivan Neil). One of the songs, “Invisible Ink,” includes a home-made music video shot with a little help from friends and local musicians in isolation during the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic, March-April 2020.