
2022-10-07
Blue Rev
Alvvays
By Maeve C.
Alvvays recorded Blue Rev with Shawn Everett after a five-year gap between albums. Molly Rankin's melodies remain easy to follow, but the guitars and keyboards often arrive in thick, overlapping layers, giving the songs more noise and movement around their edges.
“Pharmacist” introduces that balance immediately, and “Belinda Says” lets a clear vocal line rise through the distortion. The album also makes abrupt transitions between sections rather than smoothing every change away. Those interruptions reward attention to the arrangements without hiding the hooks that hold each song together.