Advertisement

Album reviews Music

Ivy

Rating: NNN



buy this at amazon.ca!

Adam Schlesinger is a man with an ear for pastiche. While he pulls off reasonable facsimiles of 80s power pop like the Cars with his Fountains of Wayne cronies, his Ivy project has always been about taking on sugary synth pop, loungey schmaltz and 60s y&eacute-y&eacute groups (the latter possibly prompted by Gallic frontwoman Dominique Durand) in equal parts. In The Clear is breezy, summery and as sweet as a blue freezie, somewhere between the Pet Shop Boys and Brigitte Bardot. The production is smooth but not too slick, and the arrangements are pleasant. The writing, however, is dreadfully dull. I much prefer Ivy performing other people’s material, as they did on 2002’s Guestroom covers disc. Zut alors.

Ivy pop at Lee’s Palace Sunday (June 12).

Advertisement

Exclusive content and events straight to your inbox

Subscribe to our Newsletter

This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

By signing up, I agree to receive emails from Now Toronto and to the Privacy Policy and Terms & Conditions.

Recently Posted