ALVVAYS CELEBRATE THE 10th ANNIVERSARY OF THEIR SELF-TITLED DEBUT WITH A REMASTERED VINYL-ONLY REISSUE
NORTH AMERICAN HEADLINE DATES KICK OFF NEXT MONTH
In February 2024, just shy of the tenth anniversary ofย Alvvaysโย self-titled debut, its second song and single, โArchie, Marry Me,โ reached a rarified threshold for our streaming ageโone-hundred million listens through a single platform. For the worldโs biggest pop stars thatโs an average achievement, but for an upstart indie rock band then writing in a backroad farmhouse on a Canadian island, it represented a staggering proof of connection and widespread resonance. Makes sense, after all: โArchie, Marry Meโ is a softly stinging, pointedly funny portrait of a common end-of-youth predicamentโto wed or not to wed, to involve the state and the possibility of financial ruin when youโre already saddled with student loans and just trying to survive. Instantly relatable, it is an anthem about prescribed social expectations and delighting, however noncommittally, in outcast status.
Now remastered by Bernie Grundman and reissued with deep cut โUnderneath Usโ to mark a glorious decade of deadpan jangle, Alvvays feels that way from end to endโliterally, from the opening stalking-you-with-love anthem โAdult Diversionโ to the ennui escapism of sci-fi closer โRed Planet.โ In a little more than 30 minutes, Alvvays give us a song about loving someone to actual death (โNext of Kinโ), how keeping secrets will destroy what you think you want (โThe Agency Groupโ), and another incisive song about the societal demands of love and marriage (โAtop a Cakeโ). Whenย Molly Rankin, Alec OโHanley, Kerri MacLellan, andย Brian Murphyย cut these songs with Chad VanGaalen in 2013, long before they had a record deal, they were, in fact, young adults trying to figure out these encroaching exigencies for themselves. Again, these problems donโt age; some of us just happen to be lucky enough to age out of them.
Little of this would matter if the songs themselves didnโt stick, if the melodies werenโt as timeless as the topics. But the tension between Alvvaysโ shimmer and snap and Rankinโs knowingly droll delivery connects these numbers to a brilliant and deep rock continuum, from the glories of C86 and the triumphs of Athens in the โ80s to Celtic folkโs own magnetic candor. Each of these songs lands several hooks apiece: the sparkling drum-machine drift of โDives,โ the noise-caked sway of โThe Agency Group,โ and, of course, the half-diffident and half-confident matrimonial plea of โArchie, Marry Meโ and that pearly guitar lick. Ten years ago or ten years from now, here are ten songs to slip in your pocket and pull out when the decisions of the world seem to swirl like the very guitars that shape them.
The newly reissued vinyl will feature remastered audio, as well as the bonus track โUnderneath Us,โ and be available on cerulean blue vinyl with a hand drawn poster by Chad Van Gaalen. Outย November 15thย and available viaย https://alvvays.com.
Tour Dates
07/28/2024 – Seoul, KR – Have A Nice Trip Festival
08/02/2024 – St John, NB – Area 506
08/04/2024 – Montreal, QC – Osheaga Festival
08/08/2024 – Oslo, NO – รyafestivalen
08/09/2024 – Gothenburg, SE – Way Out West
08/11/2024 – Helsinki, FI – Flowfestival
08/14/2024 – San Diego, CO – The Sound % LOW TIX
08/15/2024 – San Luis Obispo, CA – Madonna Inn %
08/16/2024 – Oakland, CA – Fox Theater % SOLD OUT
08/18/2024 – Portland, OR – PDX Live @ Pioneer Square % LOW TIX
08/19/2024 – Seattle, WA – Seattle Zoo % SOLD OUT
08/21/2024 – Spokane, WA – Knitting Factory %
08/22/2024 – Boise, ID – Treefort Music Hall %
08/23/2024 – Salt Lake City, UT – Ogden Twilight %
08/24/2024 – Denver, CO – Mission Ballroom %
08/31/2024 – Columbia, MD – Merriweather Post Pavilion ^ SOLD OUT
12/05/2024 – Toronto, ON – The Concert Hall #
12/06/2024 – Toronto, ON – The Concert Hall # LOW TIX
12/07/2024 – Toronto, ON – The Concert Hall # SOLD OUT
% w/ The Beths
^ w/ Mitski
# w/ cootie catcher