Alvvays - Alvvays

Of any new band of 2014, Alvvays won me over the quickest (though I definitely did not write this review the quickest since this came out last July…) and their self-titled debut made the #6 spot on my unofficial personal Top 20 of 2014. I love me some '80s twee/indie pop, and this Toronto band is, knowingly, deeply indebted to that scene of K Records and UK’s Sarah Records. They clearly have studied NME magazine’s '80s cassettes like the legendary C86 comp that introduced much of North America to the Jesus and Mary Chain, The Pastels, The Wedding Present, Primal Scream and more. But falling in love with a band or album immediately can lead to burning out just as fast. Is there enough here to keep my lasting interest? Are the songs good enough to stand the test of time? So far the answer is yes, and while I’m addicted to these songs, the band does have some overused tricks and trappings.

Alvvays owe a lot to Beat Happening, Belle and Sebastian, Tiger Trap, Black Tambourine, the previously mentioned Pastels and the like. But they also have some modern peers. Singer Molly Rankin’s voice reminds me most of Cassie Ramone from the Vivian Girls; a voice that is not overly trained but not affected or rough. Just a normal woman singing with her natural voice. It’s refreshing. Musically they don’t sound like Vivian Girls, they’re more like Tennis or Scotland's Veronica Falls, or to name a bigger indie band The Pains of Being Pure at Heart, referring more to that group’s recent Days of Abandon sound than their earlier fuzzier or '90s alt styles...Punk News

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