Alvvays‘ self-titled debut was given a proper US release on Polyvinyl all the way back in July, but it wasn’t until recent weeks that the Canadian band’s glorious, noisy pop greedily took hold of my eardrums/heart and didn’t let go. Ben Salmon wrote about Alvvays in this week’s paper, and I described ’em in Busy Week as sounding “like Teenage Fanclub and the Ronettes co-captaining a comet,” but of course no amount of reading about a band comes close to actually hearing them.
Here, then, is Alvvays’ “Archie, Marry Me,” one of the small number of perfect pop songs released this year. If you’ve never heard it before, I challenge you to listen to it a single time—no hitting repeat. If you’re anything like me (alive human, functioning ears, beating heart), you won’t be able to.
Alvvays play TONIGHT at the Doug Fir with the equally worthy (and equally Canadian) Absolutely Free. They’ve also got a tour with the Decemberists on deck for 2015, and there are eight other fine songs on Alvvays that you need check out.
one time here.
I loved them when they did a couple songs on Q several months ago, but the lp just isn’t grabbing me. Something about it just feels lazy and inauthentic.