Happy Anniversary, Archie: Alvvays' Debut Record Gets a 10th Birthday Re-Issue
The Canadian jangle pop group's first album will be available on a new cerulean blue vinyl with an unearthed bonus track, as well as the ten original songs — including breakout single 'Archie, Marry Me' — that launched their career in 2014.
Alvvays
A major Canadian indie rock album turns 10 today (July 22), and the band is celebrating with a special re-issue.
Alvvays' self-titled debut helped the group break through on an international scale, propelled by jangly guitars, aloof vocals and an expertly catchy single. "Archie, Marry Me," with its soaring chorus and pleading lyrics, became a wedding song for a generation of ambivalent millennials, earnest and sardonic at the same time.
That song helped land the band on a host of best-of 2014 lists, as well as major festival stages like Glastonbury and Coachella. The album's success established them at the forefront of a new era of indie music marked more by dreamy atmospherics than bombast and maximalism. Produced by Alberta's Chad VanGaalen, Alvvays was a perfect marriage of storytelling and mood, designed to soundtrack the hazy heartbreaks of youth.
Ten years later, with two more full-lengths in their discography — as well as two Juno Awards and their recent first Grammy nomination — the band are looking back on the record that launched them. A remastered vinyl-only edition, in cerulean blue, will feature deep cut bonus track, "Underneath Us." It also comes complete with a hand-drawn fold out poster by VanGaalen.
The band are touring alongside the anniversary, with upcoming Canadian dates at Area 506 in Saint John, New Brunswick on August 2 and Osheaga in Montreal on August 4. In December, they'll play three dates at Toronto's Concert Hall, one of which is already sold out.
The new edition of Alvvays is out November 15, and available for pre-order now.
