The genuinely appealing Molly Rankin plays a ringing guitar, has shoulder-length flowing platinum hair, expressive features, and a seamless upper register. She sings her introspective lyrics thoughtfully. Albeit at times hiccupy. Her supporting cast gets everything just right.
The indie rock band Alvvays sold out on Thursday night the 1,800-capacity Brooklyn Steel located in East Williamsburg, and gingerly delivered songs from its newly released sophomore album, Antisocialites, as well as from their widely acclaimed self-titled debut album. There is no dizzying, gruff, hearty stuff in this form of rock.
If the musical Rent took place in Canada, the script would read: “You can take Ms. Rankin out of Toronto, but you can’t take the Toronto out of Ms. Rankin.” Like Canada, a saner version of the United States, this band offers the gentle and emotional pleasures of rock. And while their hooks are neat and clean, they also extol fun and dancing!
In hindsight, onstage the material holds up. The romantic messages of “In Undertow,” “Forget About Life,” “Dreams Tonite,” or “Archie, Marry Me” are brought home by Ms. Rankin: “You’ve expressed explicitly your contempt for matrimony/ You’ve student loans to pay and will not risk the alimony/ We spend our days locked in a room content inside a bubble.”
Ms. Rankin’s poetically graceful confessional lyrics definitely has an audience: dying middle-class, blue city millennials.
Last night’s avid admirers of Alvvays, roughly 99.9% white, seemed made up of those who felt inferior to the pretty people they grew up with in middle America who had broken their spirits long ago.
In addition, it wasn’t a dancy crowd. Once upon a time, I heard a comment made, “In NYC, the guy shelving books at Barnes & Noble has a Ph.D.” And that is true. I think that explains why so many people grow jaded and cold here and show up inordinately furrowed-brow and arrogant to these shows; the city is so sharp elbowed that a lot of millennial newcomers don’t end up happy.
I’ve seen Alvvays perform in libertine-vibed Montréal and folks are jumping for joy and tango dancing at equal measure. Comparatively, Québec is more slow-paced, relaxed, polite, and wholesome, to be sure.
Changing the subject, not all numbers are played for money, and I think Alvvays would fare quite better professionally if they played a rooftop concert atop the Apollo Theater like U2 did out in the city of angels for their “Where The Streets Have No Name,” or when the The Beatles did the same thing in their final concert. All this would broaden their fan coalition.
