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Blue Rev

by Alvvays

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  • Record/Vinyl + Digital Album

    Printed cardstock innersleeve with lyrics.

    Includes unlimited streaming of Blue Rev via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    ships out within 5 days
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  • Compact Disc (CD) + Digital Album

    Includes lyric insert.

    Includes unlimited streaming of Blue Rev via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
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      $12 USD or more 

     

  • Cassette + Digital Album

    Black shell w/ white ink

    Includes unlimited streaming of Blue Rev via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    ships out within 5 days
    Purchasable with gift card

      $12 USD or more 

     

  • T-Shirt/Shirt

    BRAND: Bella + Canvas 3001

    SHIRT COLOR: Vintage Black

    INK COLOR: Red, Yellow, Green, and Blue

    Designed by Bailey Elder
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    Purchasable with gift card

      $27 USD or more 

     

  • T-Shirt/Shirt

    BRAND: Bella + Canvas 3001

    SHIRT COLOR: Kelly Green

    INK COLOR: Blue, Beige

    Designed by Bailey Elder
    ships out within 5 days
    8 remaining
    Purchasable with gift card

      $25 USD or more 

     

  • T-Shirt/Shirt

    BRAND: Gildan Softstyle 6400
    SHIRT COLOR: Sapphire
    INK COLOR: Black & White
    ships out within 5 days
    Purchasable with gift card

      $22 USD or more 

     

1.
i know you're back i saw your sister at the pharmacy picking up said you had that new love glow now that you're here i want to wake up on the right side looking back getting out of neutral new track you know it happens all the time it's alright, i hear it happens all the time we volunteered local centre off the highway nicorette those paths have grown in now velvet fall an assistant to the way life's shaking out those girls are older now you know it happens all the time it’s alright i hear it happens all the time it’s alright i know i never crossed your mind
2.
i dropped out college education’s a dull knife if you don't believe in the lettered life then maybe this is our only try how i gauge whether this is stasis or change fill out the requirements on the page and burn out before you can get paid cause we're always crawling in monochromatic hallways dream we pull a one-eighty someday if you don't like it well say it's over weekends alone ever lay back and watch the sunrise? ever hear violins in your mind? you know it's only wind outside cause we're always crawling through monochromatic hallways dream about it burning down all day if you don't like it well say it's over weekends alone does it get easier on your own? i waited so long for you wasted some of the best years of my life and i wanted to see it through this time
3.
4.
Tom Verlaine 03:26
looking back i should have known all the nights that i spent out in space if in fact i had said no what becomes of this it's hard to say and i'll feel better with the breeze on my back and i'll sleep better knowing it's in the past looking back i should have known all the nights that i spent in outer space cigarettes and old regrets piled in a stack out in the back of my brain when you walk away it better be for good i put my money on a horse who won't be steered on any course or lane and if i ever see a dime you'd take that money to divide and separate when you walk away it better be for good i know you'll be there in the rain glowing like the first night telling me you've changed i know you'll be there in the rain glowing like the first night trying to explain that when you walk away it's gonna be for good you were my tom verlaine just sitting on the hood woo wah
5.
Pressed 02:09
benevolent collegiate rolled his eyes and walked away and if you could believe it his stride is lengthened by his sense of wonder oh well i lost that shine didn't i? not long ago you held me on the banks of rolling isles not long ago you read to me pedantic poetry and i would smile and if i could retrace it i'd match the steps we took to merely recreate it lie to myself everyone else don't forget not long ago you held me on the banks of rolling isles not long ago dur middlebrow status quo rituals sufficed in a whirlinino spin around i waver in the night toss turn eleven times and i won't apologize for something i'm not sorry for mind racing over time turns out all my friends were right and i won't apologize for something i'm not sorry for this cocktail is overpriced i'll do my best to keep things light but i won't apologize for something i'm not sorry for lay barren eulogize holy water lemon rind and i won't apologize for something i'm not sorry for
6.
now that we've passed through many mirrors i can't believe we're still the same now that we've passed through many mirrors i can't believe we're still the same lightyears away and you've got so much life to offer in you wild out of place you called me someone figured it out before you long time flame and you’ve got so much life to offer in you wild out of place you called me now that we've passed through many mirrors i can't believe we're still the same now that we've passed through many mirrors i can't believe we feel the same oh
7.
he's a very online guy he likes to hit reply he's incredibly vigilant hair with the feathered wings he likes to pull the strings it's incredibly visible we all know everything that he says and does leave your location on and just follow the buzz he's only one filter away he's only one follow one filter away he's a very online guy he types his cool replies he's incredibly animal front of the wedding trains he laps up all domains and he loves a patio he's only one flicker away he's only one photo one filter away like a thinning wave what was it supposed to be? the truth is i'm afraid of sudden change but when you're close to me does anyone notice? life disintegrates what was it supposed to be? the truth is i'm afraid to turn away but when you're ghosting me does anyone notice? he's only one filter away he's only one photo one flicker away he's only one photo one follow one filter away he's a very online guy
8.
Velveteen 03:09
i see you getting fit i can't make sense of it at night you roll up your jeans and pull on your velveteen tonight you're on the stairs what are you doing there? take off your lethargy and down the banister you slide who is she? because i know that it can't be a closetful of lace acquired recently who am i to debase in this economy? is she a perfect ten? have you found christ again? you tell me you don't have the time to cop to it and vanish in the night who is she? because i know that it can't be me you fell away and i know how it all boils down you hesitate maintain charade and i fall to the battle the bottom again we used to tell eachother everything and now we're passing ships in night we used to tell each other all the lies and in a fairly civil way whatever gets you through the night
9.
Tile By Tile 02:58
at night i pace the floors tile by tile step by step til i reach a wall no use in forging on i try wholeheartedly but still end up on your lawn cause i'm still waiting on my invitation i shouldn't have ever gone in the truck the whole ride writing in your condensation i shouldn't have ever been calling it love at night i take the calls from telemarketers in hopes of hearing your drawl i let them blather on without a thought i surrender my credit card cause i'm still combing through missed connections i shouldn't have ever followed you up i'm out here swimming in the wrong direction i shouldn't have ever been calling it love am i still giving off the wrong impression i shouldn't have ever dialed you up and i'm still lifting all your old expressions i i shouldn't have ever been calling it love i'm still waiting
10.
Don't wanna be nice i don't want to be nice i don't want your advice on the run in my tights i'm going to get what i want i don't care who it hurts took the lessons that i've learned once shy twice burned don't wanna belong i'm not nodding along i don't care if you write me please don't invite me hummingbird get what you want and flutter off for a little while light settled on the doorstep you took the four steps mine should've been mine had i just said something if i wasn't polite stuck out my hand grabbed it and ran and you wouldn't have been accosted all according to the plan don't wanna belong i'm not nodding along don't care if i'm wrong you unfortunate boy you've gone awol hummingbird get what you want and flutter off to a different flower lace up and the light's out you took that ride out mine should have been mine had i just said nothing if i wasn't polite stuck out my hand grabbed it and ran and your looking took it forward and you're looking to the plan woke up in the rain woke up in a sweat now you're living in a condo and you wanna forget there was a time when someone could've said you can't recreate all the things that are read pomeranian spinster glass slipper never fit it took a while but i'm trying to get over it presbyterian ministers travel in packs and never split they deviate in the tiniest concepts i heard you ask me to smile detour right off of the road don't ever ask me to smile which dress is she going to wear? what's to be done with her hair? don't ever ask me to smile you'll spend the rest of your days taking your foot off the brake foot on the brake foot on the woo
11.
can't explain my ankle sprain i didn't really feel it new dress could turn your head but how long til we reel it in? paradise and i find myself paralyzed knowing all too well blue rev behind the rink i didn't really need it circumspect when you call collect to see if i would keep it paradise and i find myself paralyzed knowing all too well terrified but i'll find my way moving to the country gonna have that baby wait tables in town i know word gets around moving to the country gonna have this baby see how it goes see how it grows and i find myself paralyzed knowing all too well terrified but i’ll find my way i'll egress to inverness with nothing in my pocket belinda says that heaven is a place on earth well so is hell and we’ll all get help paradise and we’ll start another life
12.
if i there’s a fine i’ll pay it if you are destroyed i’ll call another ride if that's the game you're playing let e know the rules and i will be alright always waiting if there’s a pill i’ll swallow gazing out the window we could do it all the sentiment will follow if you are home soon then we can leave tonight always waiting getting on the last train and no-one can stop me getting on the last freight and no- one can follow getting on the last train and no-one can stop me getting on the last freight i'm leaving in a fog if there’s a role i’ll play it always waiting always waiting artificial light cascading cool dismissal self-effacing bored in bristol always waiting
13.
pretty quiet out here it’s abundantly clear that no-one's been coming for me no encouraging sounds helicopters or hounds in the time that's allotted for thee now that you’re around take another shot now that you’re around take another look lucky sevens align while i’m riding the pine and i'll always be looking for ways to remember the sound of the lottery noises that i can’t believe rang for e now that you’re around take another now that you’re around take another look i want you to take a shot i won't shoot you down
14.

about

Alvvays never intended to take five years to finish their third album, the nervy joyride that is the compulsively lovable Blue Rev. In fact, the band began writing and cutting its first bits soon after releasing 2017’s Antisocialites, that stunning sophomore record that confirmed the Toronto quintet’s status atop a new generation of winning and whip-smart indie rock.

Global lockdowns notwithstanding, circumstances both ordinary and entirely unpredictable stunted those sessions. Alvvays toured more than expected, a surefire interruption for a band that doesn’t write on the road. A watchful thief then broke into singer Molly Rankin’s apartment and swiped a recorder full of demos, one day before a basement flood nearly ruined all the band’s gear. They subsequently lost a rhythm section and, due to border closures, couldn’t rehearse for months with their masterful new one, drummer Sheridan Riley and bassist Abbey Blackwell.

At least the five-year wait was worthwhile: 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. There are 14 songs on Blue Rev, making it not only the longest Alvvays album but also the most harmonically rich and lyrically provocative.

There are newly aggressive moments here—the gleeful and snarling guitar solo at the heart of opener “Pharmacist,” or the explosive cacophony near the middle of “Many Mirrors.” And there are some purely beautiful spans, too—the church- organ fantasia of “Fourth Figure,” or the blue-skies bridge of “Belinda Says.” But the power and magic of Blue Rev stems from Alvvays’ ability to bridge ostensible binaries, to fuse elements that seem antithetical in single songs—cynicism and empathy, anger and play, clatter and melody, the soft and the steely. The luminous poser kiss-off of “Velveteen,” the lovelorn confusion of “Tile by Tile,” the panicked but somehow reassuring rush of “After the Earthquake”.

The songs of Blue Rev thrive on immediacy and intricacy, so good on first listen that the subsequent spins where you hear all the details are an inevitability.

This perfectly dovetailed sound stems from an unorthodox—and, for Alvvays, wholly surprising—recording process, unlike anything they’ve ever done. Alvvays are fans of fastidious demos, making maps of new tunes so complete they might as well have topographical contour lines.

But in October 2021, when they arrived at a Los Angeles studio with fellow Canadian Shawn Everett, he urged them to forget the careful planning they’d done and just play the stuff, straight to tape. On the second day, they ripped through Blue Rev front-to-back twice, pausing only 15 seconds between songs and only 30 minutes between full album takes. And then, as Everett has done on recent albums by The War on Drugs and Kacey Musgraves, he spent an obsessive amount of time alongside Alvvays filling in the cracks, roughing up the surfaces, and mixing the results. This hybridized approach allowed the band to harness each song’s absolute core, then grace it with texture and depth. Notice the way, for instance, that “Tom Verlaine” bursts into a jittery jangle; then marvel at the drums and drum machines ricocheting off one another, the harmonies that crisscross, and the stacks of guitar that rise between riff and hiss, subtle but essential layers that reveal themselves in time.

Every element of Alvvays leveled up in the long interim between albums: Riley is a classic dynamo of a drummer, with the power of a rock deity and the finesse of a jazz pedigree. Their roommate, in-demand bassist Blackwell, finds the center of a song and entrenches it. Keyboardist Kerri MacLellan joined Rankin and guitarist Alec O’Hanley to write more this time, reinforcing the band’s collective quest to break patterns heard on their first two albums.

The results are beyond question: Blue Rev has more twists and surprises than Alvvays’ cumulative past, and the band seems to revel in these taken chances. This record is fun and often funny, from the hilarious reply-guy bash of “Very Online Guy” to the parodic grind of “Pomeranian Spinster.”

Alvvays’ self-titled debut, released when much of the band was still in its early 20s, offered speculation about a distant future—marriage, professionalism, interplanetary citizenship. Antisocialites wrestled with the woes of the now, especially the anxieties of inching toward adulthood. Named for the sugary alcoholic beverage Rankin and MacLellan used to drink as teens on rural Cape Breton, Blue Rev looks both back at that country past and forward at an uncertain world, reckoning with what we lose whenever we make a choice about what we want to become.

The spinster with her Pomeranians or Belinda with her babies? The kid fleeing Bristol by train or the loyalist stunned to see old friends return? “How do I gauge whether this is stasis or change?” Rankin sings during the first verse of the plangent and infectious “Easy on Your Own?” In that moment, she pulls the ties tight between past, present, and future to ask hard questions about who we’re going to become, and how. Sure, it arrives a few years later than expected, but the answer for Alvvays is actually simple: They’ve changed gradually, growing on Blue Rev into one of their generation’s most complete and riveting rock bands.

credits

released October 7, 2022

Molly Rankin : Vocals, Guitar, Production
Alec O’Hanley : Guitar, Keyboards, Bass, Production, Mixing, Engineering
Kerri MacLellan : Keyboards, Vocals
Sheridan Riley : Drums
Abbey Blackwell : Bass

Chris Dadge : Drums
Moshe Fisher-Rozenberg : Drums
Drew Jurecka - Cello, Viola
Joseph Shabason - Flute, Baritone Saxophone
Phil Hartunian - Guitar

Shawn Everett : Production, Mixing, Engineering
Additional Engineering : Stephen Koszler, Phil Hotz, Robbie Lackritz, Nyles Spencer, Julian Decorte, Amy Fort, Ivan Wayman

Design / Layout by Scott Fitzpatrick, MR + AO
Photography by Janet Vanzutphen
Additional Work by Nora MacLeod + KM

All Songs Written by MR + AO

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