Swim Team, Alvvays, and Burs
Swim Team
Hurricane // Self-Released
Hurricane marks Swim Team’s fourth commercial release to date and comes to us three years following the Vancouver trio’s 2019 LP, V. If V represented a crystalline depiction of the band’s signature - particularly their idiosyncratic blend of twenty-first century post-punk and 90s alt-rock - Hurricane sees Swim Team venture into uncharted waters, wherein the influence of dance and pop music lurks, and the result is an electrifyingly modern sound for the band.
‘Innocent’, the record’s primary single, perhaps illustrates this best. Beginning with a thumping kick drum, ricocheting bassline and Nick Short’s staccato’d guitar lead, the track quickly breaks apart to center Dorothy Neufeld’s spacious and breathy lead vocal. Immediately, various electronic percussion elements appear, serving to accentuate Murat Ayfer’s characteristically syncopated drumming through a highly danceable verse and chorus section respectively. The track concludes with a deliberately contradictory outro – chimes and brass float about in the stereo field above a loose and jazzy bass groove which fades into the distance. ‘Innocent’ sees Swim Team pen a contemporary rock song which is not shy to adopt certain tropes of the modern pop canon. The result is tasteful and exciting, such that the strong art-rock backbone Swim Team is known to cultivate is never lost whilst writing in this new direction.
Such is also the case for tracks like ‘Light Field’ and ‘Chain Reaction’, the former introducing even further drum machine and synthesized elements to the mix, and the later seeing Neufeld’s vocals feature a wash of vocoder processing. Conversely, cuts like ‘Salt’, ‘Sun Catcher’ and ‘Salamander’ recall more classic Swim Team, possessing a trace of given art-rock contemporaries, such as Palm, or the more tender side of Sonic Youth. Yet while familiar in timbre, these songs still bear a through-line to the overall focus of the record – that being a commitment to a certain sort of pop philosophy. Case in point, ‘Wild Card’ has a distinctly present-day flavour, with a synth sound resembling that found on Drake’s ‘Passionfruit’.
It seems clear that Swim Team is committed to preventing us from slipping into genre comforts. Songs are ordered such that dance-pop, art-rock and post-punk succeed each other and never co-mingle, creating a diversified front-to-back listening experience. ‘Eyes Closed’ attests to this, situated right in the center of the track list. It is a cool-blue night-drive - a smoky ballad whose synth pads and straight beat create a cushion on which Neufeld’s vocal nestles. The clarity and intimacy of the vocals here, and those found on ‘Summerland’, forces one to notice the stunning quality of the entire record’s production, notably credited to the group themselves.
Fundamentally, Hurricane showcases a novel creative avenue for Swim Team. Whether this is an indication of a new direction for the band, or just a contained experiment, the record is a welcome addition to an already sophisticated back catalogue. Hurricane is complex, and certainly warrants multiple listens if one wants to fully observe the wealth of nuanced musicality on display throughout its length.
- Nikolas Barkman
Alvvays
Blue Rev // Polyvinyl Record Co.
Alvvays described their two newest songs from their newest record Blue Rev as a “clunky low-bit collage”, which is extremely fitting when listening to these incredible songs. Just from these two alone, you know that the record is going to hit…and it is going to hit hard!
“Belinda Says” and “Very Online Guy”, along with “Pharmacist” and Easy On Your Own?” are all we were given from the 14-song album before it’s release, but man are they good!
If you are familiar with Alvvays, you know that they have a unique talent for creating a mess of colours, textures, and sounds that slash into your ears in the best way possible. Grabbing for, really screaming for your attention. These songs feel like a room filled with people, making them the perfect listen for those days when you don’t want to be alone with your thoughts. You want to turn up the volume and drown everything out, the wild screeches and dance-inviting drumbeats pull you away from thinking of anything but the sounds you are hearing in the moment.
Both “Belinda Says” and “Easy On Your Own?” exude a nostalgic teen movie intro feeling, where you can easily picture the shot opening to a young teenager driving down the highway in their 2005 Toyota Echo, sun shining down on their hand stuck out the window to feel the air rush past as they start the next chapter of their life. Though the difference comes in when “Easy On Your Own?” reveals itself to be a beautiful, soft, almost calmer indie rock song that is relatable and has roots in the story. Whereas, “Belinda Says” is a lively balance between its instruments and lyrics that uses strong female vocals to bring you along a musical journey, carried by both instrument and voice, by the blend and the structure of the melody more so than the story. The constant pull, pull, pull, a certain hurry and urgency to the song, until the middle when it slows and gives you a chance to catch up…to catch your breath.
The solos are sweet, the genre feels like its spanning further than the typical indie rock boundaries permit, and the female-led band just seems to have done it again. Further proving that they are on another realm when it comes to song writing and creating the experience of and passion for music.
- Krystle McGrath
Burs
Holding Patterns // Self-Released
Burs’ Holding Patterns is an eclectic exploration of the human condition, enriched with deep emotion. It is set to come out on September 30. Burs is: Lauren Dillen, Ray Goudy, Devon Savas, and Oliver Compton, featuring Amy Peck on Saxophone, and Alex George on Violin.
Their accomplishment through music is their ability “to marry existential motifs with ethereal soundscapes.” On their second track, “Try,” (composition and lyrics by R Goudy) the song is constructed with melancholy. With lyrics like “The contract read / Like an empty hearse,” one cannot ignore the poetic sound with buried bad news. The song has a swaying, and optimist keyboard sound. Voices create new versions of the same words. The band has described this song as “indie folk.”
The album is a spectrum of genres. For example, on the first track, “The Year Now,” (composition and lyrics by L. Dillen) the song is ambient but as it builds, the drums feel like lightning puncturing the thunder of sound. Simultaneously the guitar lends itself to sweet vocals with guitar that mimics the wind blowing by.
Track five “Nearly,” (composition by R Goudy) sums up some main themes to the album: “Once again I find myself awake within a dream.” The band sums up the reason the album is called Holding Patterns, pointing out: how “we unconsciously hold our bodies and manifest past traumas as physical symptoms of stress.”
The eighth track on the album, “Hard Love,” (composition by D Savas, lyrics by L Dillen, R Goudy, D Savas, and O Compton) is all about distorted echoes. It sounds as if someone is screaming something beautiful into a cavernous tunnel. The drums push hard and match the chaos that punches through the calmer parts.
The sixth track, “Oliver” (composition by and lyrics by L Dillen) has a drum beat that mirrors hiccups. It is a song that builds to chaos and at the same time becomes importantly passionate.
On the fourth track, “Fields,” (composition and lyrics by R Goudy) one feels as though they are rocking back and forth. It is a whimsical take on death, and every second feels like an electric new song.
Track three, “Lily,” (composition by L Dillen; lyrics by L Dillen and R Goudy) illuminates the punches and patchwork of experience with love. The repeated line “A vessel to get off,” is a heartbreaking way of introducing the indifference of the partner being described. The band has described this track as “alternative.”
Track seven, “Hunger” (composition and lyrics by L Dillen) is absolutely devastating. With lyrics like: “Come suffer, I will mend / eat your suffer,” one cannot untangle themselves from this ode to yearning for someone, while they are yearning to get away from you. The song shows how much they would sacrifice while getting nothing in return. The band has described this song as “ambient dream pop.”
Track nine, “I Have a Light” (composition and lyrics by L Dillen) sums up the album beautifully with sad plucking guitar and calm waves that bathes the song in peaceful movement.
Holding Patterns is an album made with much care, and consistency. Each song tells a different story, showing the complexity of subject matter as well as music. The album is memorable, and just as smart as it is obsessed with longing, belonging, and leaving a legacy behind.
-Kyra MacFarlane
