Hear Jeff Tweedy Cover “Pharmacist” by Alvvays

Toronto’s Alvvays are currently enjoying a fresh wave of adulation around their long-awaited third album, Blue Rev, and the band can count Wilco frontman Jeff Tweedy among their admirers. Tweedy has shared an acoustic cover of their LP3’s lead single “Pharmacist” via his Substack newsletter, Starship Casual.

“I learned this short and sweet beauty a little while ago, when it was released as a preview track for Alvvays’s new LP, Blue Rev,” Tweedy writes. “I love the unexpected C demolished chord in the chorus. If I understand these lyrics correctly, I think that chord (Cdim actually) makes the phrase ‘I hear it happens all the time’ even more withering and full of delicious, pitying scorn. A diminished chord employed to diminish. Love it!”

Listen to Tweedy’s “Pharmacist” cover via Starship Casual and revisit the original below. Further down, you’ll find a 1996 Wilco performance from the Paste archives.