Alvvays

Luby Sparks?

Veronica Falls

The Clientele

Um, that was more a response to the described theme + Real Estate reference. Otherwise not sure if relevant.

Sacred Paws

Actually the Clientele is pretty close to what I was looking for (also, kudos for making a suggestion that doesn't have a female singer)
Some other solid recommendations above -- thanks ILM!

self titled best guitar album of the past decade or what? still stunning, never bored

lmao sorry i made this same post a year ago. i've got a buzz on today.

goddammit i thought this revive was gonna be a new album

btw, anyone who like Alvvays should definitely check out FRITZ right now:

https://fritzmusic.bandcamp.com/album/pastel-2

*likes

Damn that revive got my hopes up.

sorreeee. i'll get on fritz, ty

for maximum Alvvays-ish-ness, start with "Pastel" ... but the whole album is really good

Okay the false alarm may have been worth it for the FRITZ recommendation. This is solid, and definitely scratches the same itch.

it's so good. i paid way too much to ship the record from Australia, lol

second alvvays album >>> first alvvays album (I like both though)

it's a Perfect From Now On <-> Keep It Like A Secret-ian situation

FRITZ reminds me of Black Tambourine.

Somehow I missed this last year, but they've started playing 2 new songs live:
Many Mirrors
After the Earthquake
Wasn't sure we'd ever see an LP3, but this seems promising.

How has it been almost five years since Antisocialites?

I'm still looking forward to a new album but The Beths stole their thunder a bit for me. It seems likely that they'll already be on their third album by the time this Alvvays one comes out.

Yesss!

https://www.stereogum.com/2192254/alvvays-pharmacist-blue-rev/music/

TRACKLIST:
01 “Pharmacist”
02 “Easy On Your Own?”
03 “After The Earthquake”
04 “Tom Verlaine”
05 “Pressed”
06 “Many Mirrors”
07 “Very Online Guy”
08 “Velveteen”
09 “Tile By Tile”
10 “Pomeranian Spinster”
11 “Belinda Says”
12 “Bored In Bristol”
13 “Lottery Noises”
14 “Fourth Figure”

Blue Rev is out 10/7 via Polyvinyl. Pre-order it here.

Awesome news!

LETS GOOOOO

yay!

The new song is interesting, it sounds like a more psychedelic/dissociated take on the Antisocialites sound.

Thankful for this thread popping up. I've ignored Alvvays previously but just giving then a listen now. They're really good! Reminds me of Camera Obscura but a little less cloying.

Fresh single:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tWfG7F-TAWY

New songs so far seem weirdly tuneless imho

To me they seem not so much tuneless as structureless.
Both of their prior albums were slow growers for me though, so I've learned to give this band time.

haven't listened to these yet but I love how every title on the tracklist sounds like a great Alvvays song

Yea they have upped the bleary discord - very dreamy but I reckon the tunes will become wedged in yr brain all the same & will probably have more staying power because of it. Personally I’m into it.

Yea they have upped the bleary discord - very dreamy but I reckon the tunes will become wedged in yr brain all the same & will probably have more staying power because of it. Personally I’m into it.

IDK, I think these songs are *plenty* tuneful and structured, albeit not as immediately hooky as the first two albums. It's totally fine by me, I'm just amped that they're back.

YES very good agree agree still plenty tuneful - just a bit more hazy muck swirling around in the mix which is a welcome evolution cos it sorta adds shades of appropriate menace & ambiguity to the wistful crescendos & sticky hummers.

this band sounds exactly like if Johnny Boy covered Camera Obscura's "Lloyd I'm Ready To Be Heartbroken"

I stand by this!

I love this band. I learned yesterday that the lead singer is a Rankin? that is interesting!

i don't know things so i had to look that up

Molly Rankin, the group's singer-songwriter, is the daughter of John Morris Rankin,[4] a fiddler with the Celtic folk family collective the Rankin Family, who enjoyed international success in the 1990s.[5][6]

additionally,

The group toured heavily in support of their debut, including slots at Glastonbury 2015 and Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival in 2016.[20] In addition to album material, Alvvays often performs cover songs of artists such as Kirsty MacColl ("He's on the Beach"), Camera Obscura ("Lloyd, I'm Ready to be Heartbroken"), the Hummingbirds ("Alimony"), the Primitives ("Crash") and Deerhunter ("Nosebleed") among others.[21]

alvvays often

Nevver sometimes; alvvays

Gave the new album a half listen. I'm not a fan of the production. It seems to lack dynamics, like it's been compressed to within an inch of its life.

Interestingly they recorded it live in two marathon sessions with 15 second breaks between songs, then came back to overdub and mix. Perhaps the compression is an overcompensating move.

I guess it's nice enough. The songs aren't as hooky as past efforts, but could be growers. I'll give it another chance.

I think it's terrific. They maybe should've cut a couple songs at the end, but generally I love that they wrote great songs and then went in and played them once and then started messing with 'em.

"Many Mirrors" and "Pomeranian Spinster" are awesome.

Played them twice, actually. I hope I land where you have - I really want to like the songs but they haven't quite unfolded for me yet!

I will say it's less consistent than the first two ... which were incredibly consistent. If perfection had been the goal, they might've achieved it by keeping the tracklist to 10. Which would've been very Alvvays. But I think the whole point of this one is imperfection.

Might be their best album:

Catchy Tunes - check

Innovation - check

Variety - check

Yes it could be a little shorter and yes it's a a little less immidiate than previos records. But that's part of the charm.

Lottery Noises is another highlight xxpost

best to give it a few listens I reckon don't hear anything here to make me think this wont be another increasingly addictive record going round and round in my ears

wow Pressed is air tight. does quite a lot with its 2:10!

Yeah it’s the best track off the album from my listens so far. Still not happy about the compression though, it really makes for a fatiguing listen.

(i'm about to contradict myself hundreds of times. don't read this if you like words)

i've liked the 4 preview tracks from Blue Rev that came out before the album. they sounded muddled, to me, at first, but i think that's because i'm used to alvvays having a clean, distinct, sound. and maybe that's what the rest of the album will be like, i don't know.

here's where i don't make any sense. i was honing in on this paragraph from the glowing pitchfork review:

Alvvays knew the mechanics of a song inside and out on their second album, Antisocialites, but now they are masters of their craft. Blue Rev is absolutely lousy with bridges and middle-8s that give even the album cuts a sense of stakes and momentum. They’ll do the Pixies’ quiet-loud-quiet thing, then a big gaudy key change straight out of a country tune, then bring in some of Kevin Shields’ famous “glide guitar” technique, then Rankin will belt out a note like it’s Adele karaoke night, then the band will bring it down to do a synth-led psychedelic song about a reply-guy in your mentions. This wide-ranging, recombinant style is less about genre-hopping and more about the construction of the songs themselves—there’s so much care over when the chorus needs to go up the octave, when the guitar solo needs to come screaming in, when the key needs to modulate, when the rhythm section needs to drop out. Any band can borrow a style, but when Alvvays builds these songs from the treasured blueprints of bands like Lush and the Lilys, they feel monumental from the very first listen.

somehow, this gets at what was irritating me about the beths new album. i like the beths. i'll probably like their new album when i'm not so depressed all of the time. but i think what was irritating me was hearing those "blueprints" too clearly, being able to predict what is going to happen the first time you hear a song, before it happens. there's something really nice in that feeling, too - that's what makes something feel like an instant classic, is when it does exactly what you wanted it to do. alvvays is a band that is often in that territory, too. but somehow it doesn't bother me as much with them. the predictability is slightly veiled.

don't know where i'm going with that. i like the beths, i started that thread, i will like them again. there's nothing wrong with being crafty as hell, every single time. and i don't know what i'm asking -- for power pop bands to "mess up"? am i just wanting 80s grunge to reemerge from power pop again? (nb: i am completely making up music history)

Karl, I think I can relate with what you're getting at. You already know how I feel about The Beths. What sets Alvvays apart is that although they're working within established power pop structures, it doesn't feel like they're painting by numbers - even when they're doing something obvious, it doesn't feel obvious. Their music has the odd surprise twist of shoegaze guitar, or a sudden shift in dynamics, that feels fresh even if it isn't. I don't get the same feeling from The Beths.

Back to the Alvvays album itself - there are some great songs here. I'm still not sold on the production, but the tunes are undeniable. This would be getting a lot of play from me if the sound wasn't so fatiguing. In case I have stated it enough; I can't stand over-compression.

I like Track 10 ("Pomeranian Spinster"), that's a good song. Seems maybe atypically peppy? (this is my first time listening to this band)

I agree the compression is unpleasant

Pomeranian Spinster also stood out to me the first couple times around! There’s a lot to like on the album