Alvvays

Really come around to antisocialites

it's better/more consistent than the debut imo

They're good, but I find a kind of sameyness creeps in over the course of a whole album.

My sister says they covered Elastica's "Blue" last night in Milwaukee, I'm so jealous.

"in undertow" is one of the best songs of the decade. it is perfect.

kinda effortlessly great too

oh wow re Elastica! used to love Blue, even as a demo on an early single.

the Kirsty MacColl cover is also top hole

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Km3ZPKzI26Q

listened to 'In Undertow' about a half-dozen times today. love the way the guitars weave in and out, matching the lyrics.

They’re very new to me, so I just went back and listened to their debut yesterday and today. I can see how some would see Marry Me Archie as their pinnacle and Undertow as a sort of sibling. They’re both so good and perfectly catchy, so fun to sing along to. I think the debut is more solid as an album, though both are a little patchy.

i love this band

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dgOSHDitcds

so impressive to see a band pull of a live performance that is so incredibly solid. they seem like they're effortlessly in the zone all the time.

has the drummer from the KEXP performance ^above left? i'm watching a 2018 show and it's a different drummer? that's too bad if so, she ruled.

drummer has changed a few times. i can't even remember if it was a male or female when i saw them live last fall.

"effortlessly in the zone all the time" is a good way to describe this band. two of my favorite records of the past 5 years

thing about the drummer in the KEXP clip above is that she also contributed some spot-on vocal harmonies from behind the kit. not just trivial parts but really key ones. so badass

anyway, it's almost 2am, i should probably go to bed. but zoning in on this band for a few hours and just checking out everything they have has been so rewarding, totally worth it.

Saw them last night at The Fox in Oakland. So great! The lead singer hit all the high notes, the drummer and keyboardist sang perfect harmonies, and the lead guitarist nailed all the runs too. Surprised they didn't sell out (esp with Frankie Rose and The Drums as openers).

lately i have been seriously digging the harmonies that gradually appear in the choruses in "dreams tonite"

So good man

I think the Seattle show was sold out a while in advance. tbh they only have a few songs that I actively remember and care about but I’d love to see them.

this band makes me proud to be canadian

Didn't even realize that they were Canadian until they started talking about a dubs/raps finals.

they sound more swedish to me, like a mix of cardigans/pretenders at times

I've now had this same experience with both of their albums:
- First impression: pleasant but nondescript. Sort of an indistinct wash of songs without anything immediate to grab onto.
- I listen a few weeks later just to see if missed anything, and hooks start to resolve out of the blur.
- I find myself returning to album with increasing frequency over a period of a year or so, until finally the songs are looping in my head whenever my brain is idle, and i realize that this might be my favorite album whether I like it or not.

Sort of the textbook definition of a "grower".

(the exception to all this was "Marry Me Archie" which I loved from the first time I heard it)

^ this is because they are an incredible pop-rock band

Just grabbed tickets to see them in Dec!

archie is the best indie pop song of all time

i had the same general reaction as enochroot. "Plimsoll Punks" reaaaally grew on me after a handful of listens. the smiths/marr guitar lines during the verses are so good

you all might enjoy some of this new beths album that got the big ups from pitchfork yesterday. a lot of the songs (like 'happy unhappy' and 'great no one') have a tightly composed hook-filled upbeat vibe reminiscent of alvvays songs like 'plimsoll punks'

Thanks!

thanks dude. i love alvvays so much

Great tip! I just listened to the album and it really is fantastic. You're right about the hooks, there were strong ones on every song. Brilliant playing too. Looking forward to spending more time with it.

i mentioned it in the new zealand music thread but yeah that the beths album is the best

yeah, the pfork review mentioned they were all music school students and they sound like they can do this stuff in their sleep. more music school people need to play in guitar bands imo

Oh, this is good. The vocals are making me lose it.

extremely good

tell you what, this first LP has really stood up. gotta be the finest slice of guitar pop the past ten/twenty years.

archie is the best indie pop song of all time

― diamonddave85​​ (diamonddave85), Monday, June 11, 2018 12:40 PM (one year ago)

i think they both hold up well

but i heard the second before i heard the first. it's funny how it often works that way

(preferring the first one you hear, i mean, although i like the first almost as much)

After initially thinking Antisocialites wasn't quite in the same league as the debut, I'd have a tough time picking between them now. Wonder if they're working on new material already?

New Alvvays record is tops, tho tbh I feel if you wrote "Archie, Marry me" you should be put on a government pension in perpetuity

— colin meloy (@colinmeloy) September 10, 2017

After initially thinking Antisocialites wasn't quite in the same league as the debut, I'd have a tough time picking between them now.

Had this exact same evolution. At this point, the edge goes to the second album. That said, no other song in their catalog comes within a mile of "Marry Me Archie"

Colin Meloy Sings Alvvays

i think the other songs on the S/T stand up against archie. adult diversion, next of kin, the agency group all have emotional weight.

there's something about molly's vocal inflection that's just so fun. she's playful with her voice in a super-twee way that just makes me smile. like the middle 8 on 'ode to jim' - "alter my state to get through this date" and "...won't rely on the moon for *anything*" from 'in undertow'.

i hope they tour again soon!

I've only heard the 2nd album (I think I didn't actually know it was a 2nd album until today tbh). tbh this is probably a prejudice of possible rockist or at least indieist tendencies that I do not generally expect a band this popular that makes this type of music to be any good, so my expectations were totally smashed by how good that album was

Yeah i prefer the 2nd but they're both fantastic.

careful what u wish for triggercut

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7xz72V-Mphw

Whenever this band announces their new album, it'll immediately be my most-anticipated album of that year. And I had no clue there was an album before Antisocialites.

the singer jumping into the water in the archie video is one of my favorite things

i've sorta gotten over how kinda shitty 'blue rev' sounds because there's some incredible cuts on it. the run from 'belinda says' to 'fourth figure' is as good as, like, built to spill runs on their best 90s albums. i still think molly is the best guitar pop songwriter around right now. so many new guitar bands just don't have any tunes, but i feel like alvvays' songs will stand the test of time.

i wonder why, for example, a lot of interesting names from sarah records were overlooked; meanwhile this by numbers act is heavily promoted

sarah recs was 25 years prior...???

why do bad things happen to good labels

Everywhere I go, I hear songs by this band playing over the sound system. Supermarkets, coffee shops, the mall. It alvvays seems to be a different song — at least, I don’t recognize the songs from hearing to hearing. They seem like the kind of band I would like; I’m a corny old indie-pop sucker. But the singer’s voice is like a dentist’s drill in my ear. It’s geared to exactly the wrong timbre for me somehow, and I find it actually, actively, unbearably needling.