Formed back in 2018, Ivytide — Adam Nutbey (keys), John Zambito (drums), Jamie Snytte (lead guitar), Kyle Ruggiero (bass) and Nathan Gagné (vocals, rhythm guitar) — is an emerging Montreal-based indie act. The band will be releasing their debut EP Pardon our distance this year, and the EP’s first single is the washed out “Blurr.” Centered around glitchy, blown out and distorted beats, shimmering and wobbly synth arpeggios, whirring electronics and dreamy vocals, the narcotic new single evokes the feeling of things slowly fading out of distance. Interestingly, as the band explains in press notes, the song is “about the feeling of losing touch, and reflects the distance between two people that comes from a disparity in perceptions, emotions and perspectives.” The band adds that “the production on ‘Blurr’ embodies the feeling of distance with the dreamy and washed out qualities that pair with lyrics describing the struggle of self-identification.”
The recently released video for “Blurr” features the band’s Nathan Gagné standing alone in a wintry Montreal park and as he sings the song’s lyrics, the camera pans in and out in perfect timing to the accompanying song’s glitchy beats. “Our lead singer, Nathan, developed frostbite while filming the song’s video, shot at 7:30am in -18 degrees Celsius. After taking a break in a cafe, he toughed it out through the rest of filming, where we made sure he was warm and cozy in between shots,” the band says of the video.
