When our former co-worker Mike came back from Sappyfest last year, he was quick to mention jangle-poppy P.E.I.-to-Toronto transplants Alvvays as a festival highlight. Our anticipation for their album has been building since then, and it's not just us: the strength of two catchy-as-heck singles ("Archie, Marry Me" and "Adult Diversion") created some real excitement to hear the full-length, and it doesn't disappoint. It's your funny-sad-smart summer record; a blast to blast on a sunny day, but with enough ennui to last through winter.
"The lyrics throughout Alvvays are direct; they're mostly sung to people rather than about them, lending immediate access to every story. They're also awkward—which is to say they're about awkwardness in a way that songs, particularly beach songs, rarely are. Millennial social anxiety, it turns out, is a wildcard genius pairing with breezy, effortlessly cool surf-rock, and the combination is irresistible. 'Adult Diversion,' for example, obsesses over whether a social interaction 'is a good time/or is it highly inappropriate.' No time for lying around in the sun after catching waves today, man — there are too many future conversations to hash out in great detail ('Archie, Marry Me'). Over-analyzing, easygoing; reverb-infused, direct; nonchalant, plaintive: These aren't unprecedented musical pairings, but Alvvays wields them particularly well, tapping into a widely mined and instantly recognizable genre to create their juxtapositions." - NPR