Six years after opening at Starlight, Alvvays are back in KC with the entirety of Blue Rev

Alvvays doesn't need to chase anybody.

May 2, 2024

Andrew Dodderidge,

Alvvays. // photo by Andrew Dodderidge

Although touring acclaimed junior record Blue Rev upon its release in 2022, indie/dream pop collective Alvvays—Always was taken—did not make the trek to the center of the U.S.

The result in 2024? A sold out Truman on a Thursday in April.

Coming here twice in 2018 while navigating Antisocialites (once opening for indie rockers The National at Starlight), Alvvays had yet to have their KC moment. But on Thursday, April 25 at the Truman, it did arrive. Slowly but surely, it became very hard to move inside one of my favorite downtown venues, something I had not experienced with The Wonder Years last year or Explosions in the Sky back in February, relegated to a sheer nosebleed spot in a GA setting, something vocalist Molly Rankin was empathetic towards.

“If you can’t see, I’ve been there,” she claimed. “I get it.”

The Toronto indie pop quintet are three albums in, already with a Grammy nomination under their belts (for “Belinda Says” deservedly, “Heaven is a place on earth / well so is hell.”) Their debut LP 10 years ago shot them up the ranks, rising to number one on the US college charts and developing hit song “Archie, Marry Me”, while hitting up Glastonbury in 2015 and Coachella in ‘16.

Fast forward three years, Antisocialites hits the scene, with new drummer Sheridan Riley and touring becoming a little more hectic, with one enthusiastic fan reaching the stage to try and kiss Rankin at one of their shows. The band remained quiet for around three years following the sophomore release, with bassist Brian Murphy leaving the band before Blue Rev showed up – an album that featured heavily on the end-of-the-year lists in 2022 and won them their first Juno Award. It’s an album that came out almost two years ago and an album the band is still playing every single goddamn song from.

Spillit. // photo by Andrew Dodderidge

Beginning the night were New Orleans post-punkers Spllit, putting together a solid 45 minutes of zany and very indie sounds. The threesome (plus one touring member) just released their third album back in October and are putting together quite the catalog post-COVID. It was a nice display and pretty atypical for what most openers give you, especially in this type of setting.

Thirty minutes later, cue Alvvays. And boy did they whip through their shit. 21 songs in 80 minutes is not an easy achievement, even with two-minute speed-runs like “Pharmacist”, “Pressed” and “Very Online Guy”.

Rev dives into jangle pop and focuses on stronger melodies than the group’s predecessors, with Rankin channeling singer Tracyanne Campbell’s nuanced “fondness for the pathetic perspective”. The widespread acclaim was a result of various difficulties in pre-production, such as a thief stealing demo tapes from Rankin’s apartment and a flood destroying some of the band’s gear, but after convening in LA after COVID restrictions died down, the fivesome ran through the 14 tracks they had a few times a piece with producer Shawn Everett, 14 songs that inwardly borrow from the likes of My Bloody Valentine, Yo La Tengo and Teenage Fanclub.

NME’s opening week piece nailed the situation on the head, claiming the band evolved despite facing plenty of obstacles, honed in on their craft, and kept moving after their three-year disappearance.

A six-song Rev stretch starting with “Bored in Bristol” and ending with “Pressed” found Rankin and guitarist Alec O’Hanley (a co-writer on the record) in high gear, before big early cuts “Dreams Tonite” and “Archie, Marry Me”, which rattled the downtown warehouse with audience participation during its catchy-as-hell chorus, finally transitioning to “Pomeranian Spinster” in the wickedest of ways. Specific lyrical moments hit even with your view obstructed, like “Is she a perfect 10? / have you found Christ again?” in “Velveteen”, while influences from the dirtier rock sound became more evident, like the Pavement-esque parts of “Tile by Tile.”

One interesting discussion of Rev is the tenderness between physical music listening versus streaming. With lots of fuzzy shoegaze going on here (reminiscent of MBV’s Loveless), Rev surely sounds incredibly different via CD than digital, almost in the way vinyl differs from CD.

Although negating the structure and texture that normal artists attempt to build over time in favor of dipping all the way into shoegaze, Rev is the group’s finest work, and a major grower at that. Tracks hang on specific moments, which open up when you find where they are, completing an almost seamlessly dense pop-rock experience. And once fully attainable, the result is pure candy, and if you’re into candy, this is some of the best created this side of the decade line.

Small-but-heavy Rev opener “Pharmacist” began the encore, followed by the surprise inclusion “Next of Kin” off their self-titled debut.

The Canadian heartbreak boppers are a must-see live experience if you’re into bands ripping through their material in the way great artists do when they know they have the goods. Rankin did bring some levity towards the end of the set when discussing their laser tag outing the next day.

“I am legendarily bad at laser tag,” she said. “I don’t know if it’s because of my hair or what—I don’t know how to shoot a gun…or chase people.”

Alvvays doesn’t need to chase anybody.

All photos by Andrew Dodderidge

Alvvays