Blue Rev

Blue Rev is the third album by Alvvays. I allways thought the dreampop of Alvvays was not my thing. How wrong I was. This album combines the soft and dreamy sound the band had earlier with a solid wall of sound and guitar erruptions. This mashing up of styles works very well and results in an album full of great compositions and impressive performances.

Ahhh, Alvvays, we got a Chvrches thing going on here huh? Anyhoo, new ground, can't fuck this up.... or can I? 🤔 Blue Rev absolutely blew me away. Alvvays took the usual jangle-pop sound and turned it into this massive, fuzzed-out wall of noise, and it works so well. Every track is packed with energy, hooks, and these wild key changes that keep you on your toes. Even with all the distortion, Molly Rankin’s songwriting still shines through, it’s funny, nostalgic, and just hits right. It’s rare to find a record that’s this catchy and chaotic at the same time.

Favorite Song: Pressed Least Favorite: Very Online Guy

Pretty fun. Turns out pretty much every shoegaze album I hear in think is pretty fun.

Really solid dream pop album with good guitar work. Catchy hooks. Lots to love here. Favorites were Easy On Your Own?, After The Earthquake, Many Mirrors, Tile By Tile, and Bored In Bristol.

Not for me. I'm not a fan of this kinda style of music really. It just has too much reverb, chorus/delay that it all starts to feel kinda washed out for lack of a better word. It's supposed to give a dreamy feeling to the music but it doesn't do any of that for me.

Already a firm favourite, but a proper critical listen today only reinforces why I love this kind of music. Gorgeous melodies, noisy guitars and layers that keep revealing themselves. Not quite a masterpiece, but it’s bloody close.

Year-end best-ofs and other lists have at least one thing going for them: they give us a chance to revisit important releases that might otherwise have slipped through the cracks. Given the near-ubiquity of Alvvays’ third album on North American year-end lists — and its consistently high placement, to boot — it would seem that, at least on paper, I missed something back in October 2022, before those lists appeared. As it turns out, *Blue Rev* is unquestionably the Canadian quintet’s finest album to date, vindicating the critical acclaim. Errare humanum est, I’ll admit, if only under my breath. Looking back on our mistakes and realising what we’ve missed along the way is, rather ironically, one of Molly Rankin’s favourite subjects on this record, particularly when it comes to romantic relationships. Since the Canadian singer-guitarist and fellow guitarist Alec O’Hanley are a couple both onstage and off, it’s tempting to read a strong autobiographical streak into these songs — as when, in the aptly titled “Tom Verlaine”, she compares her former admiration for her (fictional?) partner to the musical infatuation she once felt for the Television frontman. A little message for someone in particular? Or just the listener reading too much into it? Either way, Molly deserves credit for steering clear of melodrama, favouring instead a generous poetic licence packed with clever turns of phrase and flashes of wit. Whether she’s writing about relationship troubles, returning home or the personal missteps that come with our digital habits, her lyrics continually soften the edges with little observations that are by turns empathetic, bittersweet and fatalistic, capturing situations in which just about anyone can recognise a little of themselves. Errare humanum est, once again. We can also put our minds at ease about the Rankin-O’Hanley partnership when it comes to songwriting and arrangements. The proof lies in the infectious melodies, intricate jangle-pop guitar work and shoegaze echoes that run throughout the record, from “Early On Your Own?” to “Belinda Says”. A handful of irresistible, sometimes languid choruses start making themselves at home after a single listen, putting their feet up on your coffee table just as Molly puts her foot in it. Unexpected bridges, breaks and drops soon come crowding in behind them, shifting harmonic patterns and stirring up textures along the way. Kerri MacLellan’s subtle synth touches push the whole thing further towards an Eighties aesthetic that still feels fresh and relevant today. There’s a lot going on here — perhaps a little too much at times for listeners who could use a breather from a mix that buries Rankin’s already ethereal voice in a perpetual whirlwind of treble. Thankfully, the rest of Shawn Everett’s production and the album’s overall charm eventually win us over. To err is human, indeed, and none of the missteps here comes close to undermining the album’s overall success. This musical whirlwind is also a whirlwind of references, providing some useful landmarks as we make our way from one track to the next. From the very first seconds of the vibrant opener “Pharmacist”, O’Hanley’s effects pedals evoke those of Kevin Shields — an unmistakable nod that is merely the first in a long line. Whatever card they draw, Rankin and O’Hanley know how to play it. Early REM? No problem: “After The Earthquake” is on the table within the first few deals. A The Smiths card? Enter the aptly named “Pressed”, which has nothing to envy in “Bigmouth Strikes Again” or “There Is a Light That Never Goes Out”. O’Hanley can switch from Peter Buck’s playing style to Johnny Marr’s with the confidence of a young firebrand, giving Rankin the opportunity to pay her own small tribute to Morrissey with a grace that the original has long since lost. One last notable homage goes to Broadcast and the late Trish Keenan, on magnificent electro-vintage tracks such as “Very Online Guy” and “Bored In Bristol”. The gestation of *Blue Rev* was a long one, beset by obstacles: gradual changes to the rhythm section’s line-up, band members stranded on opposite sides of the US-Canadian border during lockdowns, and so on. Given Alvvays’ deft, purposeful use of musical references, we can’t help thinking that the seeds of this lovely record were timeless enough from the outset to survive yet another delay in its making. Hopefully, that goes some way towards excusing our own belated discovery of this very endearing album. *The original French version of this review -- also written by me -- appeared on the music website Mowno. You can find it here*: https://www.mowno.com/disques/alvvays-blue-rev/ 2.5/5 for the purposes of this list dedicated to essential albums, rounded up to 3 7.5/10 for more general purposes (5 for the musicianship and production values + 2.5 for the artistry) ---- Number of albums from the original list I find relevant enough to be mandatory listens: 465 + 1 (addition to the 2026 edition of the book) Albums from the original list I *might* select for mine later on: 289 (including this one addition to the 2026 edition) Albums from the original list I won't select for mine: 336 + 2 (other additions to the 2026 edition of the book) ---- Number of albums from the users list I find relevant enough to be mandatory listens: 124 Albums from the users list I *might* select for mine later on: 142 Albums from the users list I won't select for mine: 319

So De-Loused in the Comatorium was removed to make room for this. Really?!!!

Robert Dimery I will never understand the machinations of your mind

Me fait autant penser à des groupes des années 1980 qu'à d'autres plus actuels comme les Beaches. Entre synthétiseurs et rythmes rock emballés, prêts à décoller. À la fois frais et mature.

Alright we're back in it baby! And I am honored to be perhaps the first person to review this Alvvays record for the 1001 Albums Generator. I've listened to this album since it was released and always found it a little forgettable. I definitely prefer their previous album Antisocialites to this as its more hook-y and whimsical. This is still a solid listen but I think the editors picked the wrong Alvvays album here. 7/10

I think this is the first of the new batch of albums. Liked it, but I still find it weird that awkward and geeky shoegaze has been resurrected as very extrovert pop.

Got this sitting on my wall in my office

Ett sammelsurium av ljud. Inga minnesvärda refränger. Ändå inte helt oävet. Gillar After The Earthquake och Belinda Says.

Dull.

New edition, new album. Sounded fun