Alvvays - Blue Rev
Alvvays are a band that I have had my eye on for a couple of years – we all have one of those, the artist that you adore a handful of their songs yet never explore their discography. In 2017 they released their sophomore album ‘Antisocialites’ which is home to the track ‘Not My Baby’, this song has held me in a chokehold for the last six years – it is perfect, one might say divine. The studio version of the track opens with a motorbike revving up and speeding into the distance, painting a picture of sorrow and love lost, and then the instrumental begins, and it emanates that comforting feeling that everything is going to be okay.
‘Blue Rev’ is Alvvays third and latest album (released in October 2022). It is also their rawest, noisiest, and most unrefined album to date (recorded front-to-back twice, with only fifteen second breaks between songs, and thirty minutes between full album takes). This album has touched a chord in me – I recently discovered that it was produced by Shawn Everett whose credits include mixing Kacey Musgraves ‘Golden Hour’ album, which is a phenomenal, uplifting, heart-wrenching body of work which thoroughly deserved its Grammy for best country album.
The album opens with ‘Pharmacist’ and immediately demands not only to be heard, but to be listened to. The riff is heavy, opaque, and frenetic – yet the vocals are light and beatific, with a tad of melancholy for what once was.
‘Easy On Your Own?’ is an anthem for the nomads, those who want to live life to the fullest, and not live in a 9-5 office job for the rest of their lives. It is an ode to the simple life, doing what makes you happy, and surrounding yourself with people who love and want the best for you (both romantic and platonic) and saying farewell to those who do not.
‘After The Earthquake’ has soundtracked my summer thus far – yet it has a completely different meaning to me now than it did at the beginning of June. That is one of the many reasons music is so extraordinary, songs we familiarise ourselves with are always open to interpretation. Life is short, wake up and feel the music.
The second half of the album is home to the track ‘Belinda Says’ which pays homage to Belinda Carlisle’s ‘Heaven Is A Place On Earth’ – if heaven can be a place on earth, so can hell according to Alvvays. This track features some of my favourite lyrics on the album, and features the album title. Blue Rev is an alcoholic beverage, which is popular amongst the underage crowd in Canada. I suppose if Alvvays were British this album may have been called MD 2020. Back to the point, this song explores the feelings of a young woman discovering that she is pregnant unexpectedly – the bridge of this song is one of the standout moments on the album, the lyrics and the instrumental allow us to partake in this feeling of uncertainty and fear, and then the chorus comes back in and there is a newfound sense of confidence and knowledge that everything always works out.
Blue Rev is an album which has taught me that life is what you make it - and at the end of it all, you answer to nobody else but yourself. Live your life to the fullest, surround yourself with people who lift you up and enable you to succeed (and be that person for others), be comfortable in your individuality, and most important of all – listen to music that makes you feel fucking cool. Life’s too short to care too much, let’s all live a little. In the words of Rosie and Tanya at the start of Dancing Queen in Mamma Mia – ‘Screw ‘em if they can’t take a joke!’
