Laura Kerry
“Drain the pool, the summer’s over,” Molly Rankin sings on the dreamy and delicate “Already Gone” on Alvvays’ sophomore album. If Alvvays' first LP—which contained the exuberant pop hit, “Archie, Marry Me”—was a jangly pool party, Antisocialites is the reflective daze that comes when clouds move in and all that’s left are popped pastel balloons in the grass.
Antisocialites is a breakup album. Three years after the band's first release, however, it simply represents a different side of the exact same coin. While their last work celebrated love with the specificity of fiction, the dreaminess of fantasy, and a touch of acerbic wit, Antisocialites borrows the same palette to mourn love (“Did you want to forget about life / With me tonight / Underneath condominium signs,” they ask hopefully with equal parts sharpness and haziness in the final song, “Forget About Life”). Through shoegazey guitars, bright ‘80s synths, and Rankin’s expressive vocals, Alvvays channel their characteristic romanticism into music for the start of fall.
In general, the theme reflects in compositions that are subtler and more subdued than in the last album. “In Undertow” drowns its sparkling synth intro in fuzzy guitars; “Not My Baby” is lofty but distant and melancholic; Rankin’s voice fades backward in “Saved By A Waif,” blending with guitars, layered voices, and a crisp beat; and the closer, “Forget About Life,” is a hazy anthem. “Hey” swirls with surprising turns of guitars, sound effects, and keys as Rankin’s voice floats and leaps. Throughout Antisocialites, Alvvays favor understated complexity over grand and easily gratifying gestures, weaving indie-pop textures out of calculated compositions.
Though more subdued, the sophomore album contains its fair share of what Alvvays does best: cathartic, hooky choruses. Soft and meditative, “Dreams Tonite” rises to a romantic refrain, asking, “If I saw you on the street / Would I have you in my dreams tonight?” “Your Type,” an uptempo pop song with surf-rock undertones, serves its chorus quickly but still makes an impression. And though “Plimsoll Punks” alternates between jangly and distorted guitars, or between a hint of punkish vocals and gentler, lusher ones, it ultimately finds its strength by hammering in on a true earworm: “You're getting me down.”
But Antisocialites itself is nowhere near a downer. Laced with stories—true or false—of getting kicked out of the Louvre for taking a picture of the Mona Lisa, pithy musings about seeking answers, and somber reflections about feeling disoriented at the end of a relationship, the album feels concrete enough to emotionally resonate and fantastical enough to sweep you off your feet. While summer may effectively be over, Alvvays offers a compelling alternative for the rest of the year.