Alvvays - In Undertow
"You made a mistake you'd like to erase and I understand."
Album: Antisocialites [2nd album]
Genre: Dream Pop, Indie Pop
Album Release: September 8th 2017
Single Release: June 6th 2017 [lead single]
Length: 3:17
Producer: Alec O'Hanley & John Congleton
Vocalist: Molly Rankin
Label: Transgressive Records
Music Video
Live at the 2019 CBC Music Festival
Live on KEXP in 2017
Charts, Sales & Streams
Spotify: Over 35 million
YouTube Music: Over 5 million
Credits
Bass, drums, guitars [x2], keyboards, percussion
Details
- Rankin was trying to write in the style of Teenage Fanclub and Dolly Mixture when she came up with the melody for 'In Undertow'. Fanclub's Norman Blake plays guitar on the track.
- 'In Undertow' is about a failed relationship which uses aquatic lyrics as a recurring motif. H2O is similar to emotional states because of it's ever-changing nature and, like the tides, it comes and goes. It's also reminiscent of dreams.
The word 'undertow' refers to a current underneath a body of water but can also be used to describe an emotional feeling lurking deep beneath the surface. Rankin was inspired to write while walking along the coast of a beach and seems to be forever unlucky in love.
- Add 'In Undertow' to the Molly Rankin doomed relationship song list. She sure does seem to be unlucky in love. On 'In Undertow' she describes being in a relationship as a metaphor for drowning, with the phrase "holding onto a wave for as long as you can" transitioning into "what's left for you and me?"
Rankin has likened her songwriting to Tracyanne Campbell's from Camera Obscura because they both share "a fondess for the pathetic perspective."
Artwork
