Formed back in 1994, the acclaimed and beloved indie rock outfit Ivy featured Andy Chase, Dominque Durand and the late Adam Schlesinger. Understandably, Durand and Chase assumed that Ivy was in the rearview after Schlesinger tragically died from COVID-19 in 2020. While prepping recent reissues of their back catalog, the band’s surviving members unearthed a trove of reel-to-reel tapes and old hard drives stored in their Rhode Island Studio.
Chase and Durand knew they would only consider working on Ivy demos featuring Schlesinger, but they were overwhelmed by deciding which songs to finish. In response, they reached out to backing keyboardist and guitarist Bruce Driscoll to help them go through the archives and revive these lost recordings.
The result is Ivy’s first new album in 12 years, Traces of You. Slated for a September 5, 2025 release through Bar/None Records, Traces of You was built from the ground up using demos and song fragments dating between 1995 and 2012. Every song on the album features contributions from Schlesinger — with the blessing of his family. The material reportedly possesses the twinkling magic of their classic work paired with the lived-in, emotional wisdom gleaned from surviving life’s most challenging moments with grit, a weary sigh and often with grace.
Traces of You‘s third and latest single “Heartbreak” is a breezy and crafted, Motown-inspired bit of pop, complete with a strutting horn section that showcases the band’s unerring knack for remarkably catchy hooks. While drawing heavily from the band’s beloved signature sound, the song’s lyrics are rooted in the deeply lived-in experience and earned wisdom of aging.
“This song was demo’d around 2010. I started playing the electric guitar against a terribly outdated drum beat,” the band’s Andy Chase shares. “Adam added the bass part you hear as well as that super cheesy synth idea that’s still there in the background. It quickly got veto’d by Dominique, and we couldn’t blame her — it was pretty lame sounding, and all our melody ideas were terrible. In 2023 Bruce came up with the chorus chords and melody, and the lyrics pushed it even more in the right direction. By the time our dear friend Brian Young came in and played the hard hitting Motown beat you hear, we were getting excited. We came up with a horn section that Eric Matthews helped bring to life. Bruce’s wife, Marie, is singing the harmony with Dominique. If we ever play this live there are going to be a lot of people on stage!”
The stylishly shot accompanying video features the member of the band, dressed up as though they were on Ed Sullivan, performing the song — sometimes on a 1960s-era TV.
Discover more from The Joy of Violent Movement
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.