"Pharmacist" | ||||
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Single by Alvvays | ||||
from the album Blue Rev | ||||
Released | July 6, 2022 | |||
Genre | ||||
Length | 2:04 | |||
Label | ||||
Songwriter(s) | Alvvays | |||
Producer(s) | Shawn Everett | |||
Alvvays singles chronology | ||||
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"Pharmacist" is a single by Canadian indie pop band Alvvays, released on July 6, 2022 via Polyvinyl. The song is the first single from the band's 2022 album, Blue Rev. [1] The single is the band's first release since 2017's Antisocialites. [2] "Pharmacist" is the opener track to Blue Rev.
"Pharmacist" is an indie pop, [3] [4] shoegaze, [5] [6] [7] bedroom pop [4] and noise pop [8] song. The song ends with a guitar solo, [3] which NME described as "extravagant" and "ripping". [9] The track was compared to My Bloody Valentine's guitar-heavy shoegaze album, Loveless. [4] [7] Lead vocalist Molly Rankin's vocals are low in the mix in comparison to the instrumental. [10] [11]
The song's lyrics tell the story of unexpectedly meeting someone at a pharmacy. [3] NPR wrote the lyrics are "short and memorable, but don't necessarily portray any one narrative". [3] Loud and Quiet described the "vivid details" of the lyrics as creating a "beguiling short story". [12]
Quinn Moreland of Pitchfork gave the song their "Best New Music" accolade. [4] Moreland wrote, "[the song] is overblown in all the right ways, with all the meticulously layered noise growing into a thicket around [Molly] Rankin’s tender nostalgia". [4] Stereogum staff ranked the song first in their "The 5 Best Songs Of The Week" list for the week of July 8, 2022. [10] They wrote, the song "sounds less like one of the their fully-formed indie-pop songs and more like an appetizer for the album". [10] BrooklynVegan described the song as a "big-sounding first taste of the album". [13]
Paste wrote on the track, the band "[makes] clear their intention to rough things up a bit". [14] Clash described the track as "an expansive opener, with snarling guitars that meld into empyreal enchantment". [15] NME compared the track to previous Alvvays works; they said Molly Rankin's vocals have a newfound clarity and Alec O’Hanley’s guitars "swirl with more vengeance and energy than before". [9] BeatsPerMinute called the track a contender for song of the year. [7] They wrote, the track's "distortion and dreaminess is amped up from Antisocialites". [7]