IVY
ANNOUNCE APARTMENT LIFE REISSUE
& SHARE UNRELEASED SINGLE “SLEEPING LATE”
THE 25 YEAR ANNIVERSARY EDITION IS OUT MARCH 3RD VIA BAR/NONE RECORDS
Ivy by Philippe Garcia
Today, Ivy have announced a vinyl reissue of their seminal 1997 album Apartment Life, available via Bar/None Records on March 3rd. Formed in 1994, the trio included Andy Chase, Dominique Durand, and the late Adam Schlesinger, who together achieved critical success with their singular brand of disaffected, nuanced pop. Two new tracks will be available digitally for the first time, including today’s “Sleeping Late” and the forthcoming “Sweet Mary”.
On the new single Chase explains “Despite being quite ambitious and driven, Dominique, Adam and I were not early risers, at all. Although “Sleeping Late” started as a joke between us, underneath its cutesy, ironic exterior lives a more serious quintessential urban tale about being stuck at home and not wanting to leave. Dominique always loved the Velvet Underground song “After Hours”, loved the way Mo Tucker sang it, and tried to embody Mo’s innocent naivety and spirit in her vocal performance. We kept it simple and dry, inspired by early Beatles productions. We didn’t put it on the Apartment Life album since it was meant to be silly and sort of tongue and cheek, but we ultimately used it as a bonus track for the Japanese release, figuring over there most people wouldn’t understand the lyrics and never know what lazy idiots we were.”
“SLEEPING LATE” - https://youtu.be/leysrCOS_nE
This will be the first time Apartment Life has been available on vinyl, with white vinyl available through Bar/Nones Records, and limited edition blue vinyl available through Newbury Comics. On the reissue, and history behind Apartment Life, Andy Chase explains -
“This is probably the most important record Ivy ever made. Me, Dominique and Adam were in NYC going from our apt to the studio every day. It was a glorious time for us - we would just wake up inspired and excited about everything we were doing. We knew we were becoming better at our craft and were excited to show the world. I think with this album we finally succeeded in demonstrating our ability to write and produce great pop songs. It was also the first and last time the three of us smoked pot for the entire duration of an album, supplied by our good friend and co producer Pete Nashel. We also had a healthy budget from Atlantic Records so we had a blast hiring horn players, string quartets, stretching our wings as producers and creating sounds in the studio we had never done before. Songs from this album appeared in countless tv shows, commercials and movies, putting us on the map in Hollywood among the music supervisors and directors, ultimately exposing us to a much larger universe. It was without a doubt the most fun we three ever had making music together. It was a special record for us and still is probably the favorite among our fanbase. For the past 20 years they have been asking for it on vinyl, and with Adam now gone, and IVY signing to Bar None Records to re release our entire catalogue of work, it was finally time to memorialize Apartment Life on vinyl.”
The unique conditions that gifted the world Ivy sound more like an incredible movie script than the origin story of an indie band. Dominique Durand had no intention of being a musician, let alone fronting a band when she left Paris for New York in 1989, but events transpired that would change her life forever. There, she met a young Andy Chase, and the two bonded over a shared love of 80’s UK bands like The Smiths and Orange Juice. With her encouragement, Chase began to write his first songs on guitar, eventually placing an ad in The Village Voice to enlist collaborators.
The ad attracted Adam Schlesinger and Chris Collingwood, who arrived at the apartment with their own plans, hoping to enlist Chase for their new project, the proto-Fountains of Wayne group Pinwheel. Though the meeting didn’t yield either group the players they were seeking, Chase and Durand were impressed with Schlesinger’s inspired energy, and kept up a correspondence.
Just as the two were settling into their new life in New York, Durand was stopped at Logan Airport, interrogated, and then deported back to Paris. The turn of events is part of the long obscured, deeply romantic Ivy origin story, which was kept hidden from the public for fear it would color the perception of the music. For Chase, there was no option but to leave for France with the girl he loved, and figure things out there. The two decided that it was only inevitable that they would get married, so why not now.
Upon returning to the States, Fiancé Visa in hand, Chase suggested they finish the songs he’d been working on, and perform them at the wedding with Durand singing for the first time. Soon after, with the encouragement of a bottle of wine, the two tracked the brief collection in their apartment. Schlesinger was enlisted to perform bass, and quickly became enamored with the songs and Durand’s voice. At his suggestion, they began to share the demo with record labels, and in short order were signed to Seed Records (Atlantic) without ever having performed live. Waking one morning to find he’d scribbled a list of potential names on a notepad the night before, Schlesinger suggested they adopt Ivy, and the band was born.
The band broke their years long silence in late 2021 to honor the passing of Adam Schlesinger, compiling home videos from studio sessions and those early tours in memory of their friend and bandmate, and the once in a lifetime moment that they shared together. Watch the tribute below.
A TRIBUTE TO ADAM SCHLESINGER - https://youtu.be/w8xISJVl4lQ
Apartment Life Album Art
Tracklist:
01 The Best Thing
02 I’ve Got A Feeling
03 This Is The Day
04 Never Do That Again
05 I Get The Message
06 Baker
07 You Don’t Know Anything
08 Ba Ba Ba
09 Get Out Of The City
10 These Are The Thing About You
11 Quick, Painless And Easy
12 Back In Our Town
13 Sleeping Late (digital only)
14 Sweet Mary (digital only)
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