Alvvays are two women, three men, a crate of C-86 tapes and a love of jingle-jangle. Convening in Toronto, the group have been making music since since dusk or maybe dawn.
DeMarco wrote some demos for This Old Dog on an acoustic guitar, an unusual method for him. He also used a CR-78 drum machine, which can be heard on his album tracks for the first time ever.
Alvvays' third album, the nervy joyride that is the compulsively lovable Blue Rev, doesn't simply reassert what's always been great about Alvvays but instead reimagines it. They have, in part and sum, never been better.
Molly Rankin's distinctive vocals and erudite lyrics taking center stage against a kaleidoscopic backdrop of pop, shoegaze, punk, and some brand new tricks befitting a band that sounds wise beyond it's years.
Across its brief but impactful nine tracks, the album, produced by Dave Sitek of TV on the Radio, is about what happens when you get old enough to take stock of the world around you and realize that no one is going to save you but yourself.