Blue Rev (studio album) by Alvvays

From AlvaroIesus 04/19/2024 06:32

The absolute pinnacle of talent from the most underrated band of the 21st century. The band's fascinating melodic capacity contrasts once again with the most maddening and aggressive guitar and drum noise. Molly Rankin's voice is already legendary, and her lyrics and compositions are underappreciated. A devastating and complete album. Alvvays stamps their mark as not just a band of gimmicks, looks, and glamour; they came to break apart the rest of the indie and trendy bands into pieces.

“Blue Rev” successfully combines shoe gaze and indie rock. The heavy distortion of shoegaze gives the production depth and the jangle guitars and quick song structure give the tracks energy. These traits combined are musical peanut butter and jelly. The tracks are short and to the point, switching off effortlessly. Listening is a breeze and builds great momentum. The main critique is not much sticks with you afterwards. There are no enduring themes or emotions to linger on. Briefness aside, “Blue Rev” is well produced, quick, and very fun.

Album of 2022

They’ve managed to take the best parts of their previous hits (Archie, Marry Me , Dreams Tonite, and In Undertow) and mesh them into a variety of flavors on this album. So many ear worms in their discography to begin with, but they seem to have found the perfect production team to cater to their indie pop/dream pop blend.

They’ve also shown that they’re brilliant instrumentalists on this album. Kerry’s keys bounce a lot more rather than support the guitars, but Alec’s guitar work service Molly’s incredible vocal range very fittingly. The additions of Sheri and Abbey on drums and bass, respectively, also give loft these songs past the micro-targeted twee pop that defined Alvvays’s earlier sound.

Molly’s overall vocal performance on this album is the best part, though, as she shows more range, more nuance, and seems to hit the right notes to simultaneously perk your ears up and make you smile and relax your eyes - I could listen to her all day.

The only ONLY knock against this album is that the final 3 songs aren’t nearly as strong as the first 11. And those 11 are very strong.

Best songs: Pharmacist, Does It Get Easier On Your Own?, Many Mirrors, Very Online Guy, Velveteen, Tile By Tile (this song in particular strikes every chord with me)

94/100

From Brad1770 01/13/2023 00:34

Universal glowing praise and unquestionably one of 2022's best albums, 'Blue Rev' is a twee pop triumph and the fact its one of if not THE best albums in the genre and was delivered last year is simply really quite remarkable

Trust me, believe the hype - this album is stupidly good

From nitomano 01/07/2023 19:28

Una banda bastante consistente, que si bien este disco no es el mejor de su discografia, logra su cometido y entrega una experiencia bastante agradable.

From Igtonumama 12/27/2022 23:37

My album of the year!

Great album.

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AOTY 2022. A delightful indie rock gem.

From Graeme2 11/06/2022 00:24

It's a fkn incredible album. Sorry to say the same thing on every post but the sound is absolutely maxed to hell and almost obliterated. I absolutely love this band but please tell those tossers that manufacture product that you deserve way better because this might be their best, and that's saying something.