Pharmacist (song)
2022 single by Alvvays
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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 opening track and 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" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Single by Alvvays | ||||
| from the album Blue Rev | ||||
| Released | July 6, 2022 | |||
| Genre | ||||
| Length | 2:04 | |||
| Label | ||||
| Songwriter | Alvvays | |||
| Producer | Shawn Everett | |||
| Alvvays singles chronology | ||||
| ||||
Composition and lyrics
"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]
Critical reception
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]