Alvvays - Antisocialites

Power pop, jangle pop, dream pop, whatever this is, it is pop music. Music for the people. Alvvays just believe people deserve something a little more canny.

I had mentally checked out of "big indie" by the time Alvvays came out with their (good) self-titled album. When I started exploring mid and late 2010s music during the pandemic to see what I'd missed out on, I might have listened to it once on S****ify , but I bought Alvvays and Antisocialites at Found Sound in Ferndale last month. I'm not looking for a sponsorship, but it's a really great store. Should I make a page on this site for recommended record stores? Let me know on Bluesky or in the comments section. Should I make a comments section for this website?

The detours in the above paragraph are what it feels like to listen to an Alvvays record at times. Antisocialites is perfectly functional as background-listening, but underneath are the racing minds of restless songwriters, throwing middle 8s and more-complex-than-they-look rhythm guitar parts into a musical landscape that doesn't have enough of those things anymore. They may have the synthesizers and the slow jams, but strip those away and Alvvays are just The Beths, but Canadian. These are songwriters who are having fun.

For example, the very first track permutes the prechorus and chorus every time it runs around with clever similies and rhymes. '"What's left for you and me?"/I ask that question rhetorically/Can't buy into astrology/And won't rely on the moon for anything' becomes "What's left for you and me?/You respond to my question metaphorically/Don't read into psychology/And won't rely on your mood for anything". "Your Type" has country melodies and structure and a big ol' step up key change, but it's also a thoroughly English jangle pop song at the same time. "Lollipop (Ode to Jim)" is their "Brian Chilton", but even more bubblegummy, and about the Jesus and Mary Chain instead of Big Star.

Second track "Dreams Tonite" is the obvious single, where Alvvays split the difference between being a dream pop band and a vehicle for Molly Rankin's pop stardom. More than any other track on the record, it feels chorus-forward and commercial. I'd be surprised if it wasn't on the playlist of the producers of Chappell Roan's "Good Luck, Babe!". Its silk-sheet synth textures point out an alternate future where instead of Blue Rev we get a major label EP in 2022. Alas, Alvvays have the good sense to write music for themselves rather than for session musicians.

Cocteau Twins are the obvious pull for influence based on the single. There's the aforementioned Jesus and Mary Chain tribute song as well, but there's also a little "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" and Oasis attitude on "Plimsoul Punks" up until the Mort Garson-ian outro. Their sly and winking lyrics bring to mind bands like Teenage Fanclub, Magnetic Fields, even Fountains of Wayne at times. The digipak is sturdy, Polyvinyl standard-issue, and disguises its spartanness with colorful artwork. The inside art behind the CD is almost Cheekface-esque, and the cover reminds me of We Are But Hunks Of Wood by Little People. I do like digipaks when they're done well.

One interesting thing I note about Antisocialites is how deliberately anti-modern it is. The lyrics aren't diaristic or strict storytelling, but evoke meaning and feeling through gesture and melody. There's multiple lyrics on this 2017 album that reference waiting by landline telephones, for Pete's sake - no answering machine! Obviously there's a world of difference between 2025 and 2017, arguably even more so than between 2017 and 2010, but even so it feels like Alvvays are working with tools handed down to them by their musical elders. In a time when pop songs are objectively getting simpler and less melodic, Alvvays focus on melody and playful songcraft rather than rhythmic interest and tone (though the rhythms and tones support the songs nicely). This isn't a prog record by any means! It's just pop that makes me say to myself, "damn, I wish I wrote that".

Antisocialites by Alvvays is a good album, and I like it.