Sophie Hutchison
On Blue Rev, Alvvays take their signature sparkling indie-pop sound to the next level, with an album of melancholic reflections on love and loss interspersed with fist-pumping alt-rock tracks.
Throughout the album, singer-songwriter Molly Rankin zeroes in on small vignettes of everyday life that make up the mise-en-scene of bygone memories; whether it’s recalling herself “crying in a milkshake” in a car in ‘After The Earthquake’, or ending up on a lover’s front lawn at midnight in ‘Tile By Tile’.
Rankin considers how once a relationship is finished, all of those shared memories will eventually go with it
Those private little details and moments, though, are like vanitas symbols – transient, intangible once they’ve passed – and Rankin is all too aware. “Why would I ever fall in love again / When every detail is over that guardrail?” she muses. One of the album’s overarching themes is heartbreak, and Rankin considers how once a relationship is finished, all of those shared memories will eventually go with it.
On ‘Tile By Tile’ she recalls an almost-was relationship, acknowledging how things can be misremembered: “I shouldn’t have ever been calling it love,” she admits. The song is one of the slower tracks on the album and perfectly captures the feeling of not being able to stop digging yourself a bigger hole, chasing something that’s sprung from your own imagination. Rankin’s strength as a lyricist lies in her ability to capture human moments — “At night I take the calls from telemarketers / In hopes of hearing your drawl,” she croons. Sonically, the song is evocative of slow dancing alone under a slowly-spinning disco ball on an empty dance floor, all swirling synths and minor keys.
Blue Rev [brings] something inarguably fresh to the table
‘Belinda Says‘ is perhaps Alvvays’ best song yet. A tearjerkingly poignant gut-punch of a song in which its young protagonist decides to go through with her accidental pregnancy: “Moving to the country / Gonna have that baby / See how it goes” — though she’s “knowing all too well terrified”. The perfect song to run away to in the night, it builds to a crescendo in which Rankin’s vocal ability is on full display, as she belts out the final line: “we’ll start another life”.
‘Belinda Says‘ also has one of Blue Rev’s many great guitar solos courtesy of guitarist Alec O’Hanley, who shreds his way through rockier tracks like the rip-roaring ‘Pomeranian Spinster‘, which along with ‘Pharmacist‘ ties Blue Rev into the indie genre, whilst bringing something inarguably fresh to the table.
Listening to Blue Rev feels like standing on a precipice, looking over the edge, and wondering whether to jump
Overall, the album is an examination of the different paths life takes: lovers, ex-lovers, missed connections, babies, dropping out of college, self-acceptance, self-loathing. It’s far removed from anything else in the indie scene today and feels like a modern classic. Listening to Blue Rev feels like standing on a precipice, looking over the edge, and wondering whether to jump. “Does it get easier on your own?” Rankin asks in ‘Easy on Your Own’. Who’s to say? Blue Rev seems to suggest: live the questions, and find out.
Featured image courtesy of pxhere. No changes were made to this image. Image licence found here.
