Ivy
Apartment Life
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Ivy
Apartment Life
Atlantic, 1997
RiYL: Stereolab, The Sundays, Fountains Of Wayne |
As bassist Adam Schlesinger demonstrated via his Fountains Of Wayne side project, he and guitarist Andy Chase (husband of lead singer Dominique Durand) have a gift for devilishly catchy songwriting that sticks in the head for days. Durand's singing, reminiscent of Stereolab chanteuse and fellow Frenchwoman Laetitia Sadier, conveys a sense of jaded sincerity rarely found in current pop.
And while Apartment Life gets bogged down in some rather dull pop-lite and ill-advised studio experimentation (shrieking horns ruin the otherwise beautiful "This Is The Day"), the majority of the album contains some truly winning pop songs. "The Best Thing" and "Get Out Of The City" jump out of the gate and rock hard, as Chase's guitar shimmers and Schlesinger's bass thumps.
Indeed, on the charming "I've Got A Feeling" and "Quick, Painless And Easy," Ivy closely approximates Stereolab's strummy melodic gifts, minus the electronica. Apartment Life offers sweet and catchy pop without the usual side of cliches. Well done.
JONATHAN COHEN | Jonathan Cohen co-created Nude As The News with his Indiana University mates Troy Carpenter and Ben French. When not traversing the globe for business and pleasure, he holds down the fort as a senior editor for Billboard in New York. Stop him and he just may ask, "what for lunch?"