ALVVAYS

It’s time-honored wisdom that sophomore albums are more difficult to record than a band’s debut and this certainly appears to be the case for the Toronto-based band Alvvays and their sophomore album Antisocialites . We spoke with singer Molly Rankin about the differences between it and their 2014-released self-titled debut, as well as touching upon why there was a three-year wait between albums, Rankin’s experiences playing with Norman Blake of Teenage Fanclub (who appears on the new album), singing with The Jesus and Mary Chain at a festival in Australia, and her lack of desire to conform to expectations. Rankin grew up on the remote Nova Scotian island of Cape Breton before forming Alvvays in Toronto in 2011 alongside guitarist Alec O’Hanley, keyboardist Kerri MacLellan, and bassist Brian Murphy. The band’s sound has been described as jangle-pop and Rankin’s vocals often compared to Camera Obscura’s Tracyanne Campbell, but fans of late ’80s British indie will recognize groups from that era such as The Primitives as a formative influence on the group as well. [Note: This is the full Q&A of our interview with Rankin, including quotes that didn’t make it into our main print article on Alvvays.]