Alvvays, pronounced as “always” is an indie pop band formed in 2011 consisting of members Molly Rankin, Kerri MacLellan, Alec O’Hanley, Abbey Blackwell, and Sheridan Riley.
It originated from Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, and at present, it is based in Toronto, Ontario. The band’s first self-titled album was released in the year 2014. It eventually topped the US college charts.
The band has wide popularity similar to another Canadian rock band called Arkells, where Max Kerman is the lead singer.
The band’s second album, Antisocialites, was released on September 8, 2017, and it won the Juno Award for Alternative Album of the Year at the Juno Awards of 2018.
Both albums of the band were short-listed for the Polaris Music Prize. Their third album, Blue Rev, was released on October 7, 2022.
Alvvays’ music is described as jangle pop by the musical press and its members. According to Rankin, the band’s major emphasis is on stronger melodies rather than a specific genre. Its music is also often compared to Camera Obscura.
Molly Rankin, the group’s singer, and songwriter happens to be the daughter of John Morris Rankin, a fiddler with the Celtic folk family collective The Rankin Family, who enjoyed major success in the 1990s.
The members of the group have toured extensively for bands such as Peter Bjorn and John including The Decemberists.
Alvvays Controversy: What Happened To Them?
On the sixteenth of September, 2017, at a show on Antwerp, a male audience member suddenly jumped on the stage and attempted to kiss singer Molly Rankin.
Post the incident, the director at Trix, the show’s venue apologized on Facebook. After the band received a SOCAN Songwriting Prize nomination for the song “Dreams Tonite” Antisocialities was shortlisted for the 2018 Polaris Music Prize.
After the year 2018, the band remained inactive for three years. They released “Pharmacist” the first single from their third album Blue Rev, on July 6, 2022. It was released on October 7, 2022.
During the break, fans went crazy and raised questions if the band was really making music or not. There was no recent news or information regarding their new album or venture.
After the release of Antisocialities, several events occurred that caused the delay in the progress of another album. At the same time, a thief broke into the lead singer’s apartment and stole a recorder with several demos contained in it. The day after it, a basement flood threatened to destroy all the band’s gear.
The COVID-19 Pandemic created further delays with closed borders that prevented the singers to rehearse together as a full group
They eventually reconvened in October 2021 in a studio in Los Angeles with producer Shawn Everett and went to play all of the Blue Rev front-to-back twice in a single day.
Alvvays New Album Blue Rev
Blue Rev is the third studio album by the Canadian band Alvvays. It was released on October 7, 2022, via Polyvinyl and Transgressive.
The album has released after a long hiatus. Because of the pandemic and other complexities that occurred, there was a delay in the progress of the album.
The members went on to play all of Blue Rev front-to-back twice in a single day, with 15-second breaks in between songs and a 30-minute break between full album takes.
The album was announced on July 6, 2022, alongside the lead single called Pharmacist. The single “Easy on your own?” was released as a double single on September 22, 2022. The final single is called “After Earthquake” and it was released on October 5, 2022.
Blue Rev has already received widespread acclaim from different musical critics. The album got an average score of 86, based on 113 reviews from Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from professional publications.
At the same time, reviewing the album for All Music, Tim Sendra said that the songs sound memorable and fun, the performances are inspired and the production is also interesting and varied.
Besides its regular members, the band has also got some additional musicians working on the album including Chris Dadge, Moshe Fisher-Rozenberg, Drew Jurecka, Joseph Shabason, and Phil Hartunian.
The album has the given track listing and all the tracks are written by Molly Rankin and Alec O’Hanley
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- “Pharmacist”
- “Easy on your own?”
- “After the Earthquake”
- “Tom Verlaine”
- “Pressed
- “Many Mirrors”
- “Very Online Guy”
- “Velveteen”
- “Tile by Tile”
- “Pomeranian Spinster”
- “Belinda Says”
- “Bored in Bristol”
- “Lottery Noises”
- “Fourth Figure”
Some FAQs
Where did the Band Alvvays originate?
Alvvays originated in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, Canada
What is the new album of the band Alvvays?
Alvvays has recently released their new album called Blue Rev on October 7, 22
Who is Molly Rankin?
Molly Rankin is the vocalist and guitarist of the band Alvvays