Despite slow start, Alvvays does not disappoint

This is an album from upcoming Canadian band Alvvays (pronounced Always) and while their starts with a great opening statement, it doesn’t succeed very well in maintaining the momentum it establishes.

The album opener “Adult Diversion” does an outstanding job of getting you used to what you will hear for the next half hour. But unfortunately, that’s part of the problem. Not all, but most of the songs lack originality from the ones that come before them.

Does that make the whole album a waste of time? Not necessarily. Tracks like “Archie, Marry Me,” “Party Police,” “The Agency Group” and “Atop a Cake” a very easy on the ears, especially with lead singer Molly Rankin‘s vocals being as dreamy and smooth as ever.

Now that’s fair, half of the album is great, but the other half, with songs “Ones Who Love You,” “Next Of Kin” and “Dives” being decent, but in whole, sound just a bit unoriginal. They all have the same guitar sound. Throughout those songs, they have cool moments. And like I said before, Molly Rankin’s voice is just the epitome of beautiful.

There’s one song, called “Red Planet” that’s different from the whole album. It sounds almost haunting, with clever use of synthesizers and minimal drums. It’s a very well crafted piece of music.

Overall, regardless of the hints of unoriginality, it’s a great half hour of music from Toronto band Alvvays. Throughout listening to it over and over, it grew on me. I can definitely see this being in the top five albums of 2014.