Since 2017, dreamy synth-pop duo, The Ivy, has been churning out glassy, happy-pop hits, their first two tracks, “Gold,” and “Have You Ever Been In Love,” both went viral, climbing on the Spotify Viral charts, receiving more and more streams.
Today, The Ivy, which features Wyatt Clem (vocals/guitarist) and Shawn Abhari (synth player/bassist), unveils their new single, “Good Faith,” a perfect track to end the summer with!
The duo originally met at the Academy of Contemporary Music in Oklahoma City and hit it off.
“I think similarities just between the two of us, we were both the same age and we’d both transferred there from previous colleges, which I think was unique amongst the crowd that we were going to school with. We also shared similar tastes in music. We both just got along really well,” Abhari revealed.
Initially, Abhari had the band working as a solo project, while simultaneously searching for vocalists on Craigslist, with a few songs already in his pocket. He was cycling through singers and asked Clem to do one show with him: “Hey, man, I need a vocalist. Would you mind? Do you think you could learn the songs?” Clem explained.
“The goal,” Clem continues. “was to play this thing called Metro Music Fest, which they do every year Academy of Contemporary Music. It’s a festival where they’ll bring in like, [sic] one or two, like, [sic] big headliners, but for the most part, it’s a festival that gives students the opportunity to play in front of people. So that was kind of the goal, and in my head, I didn’t really know if it was going to be, like, [sic] more than a one, one show situation.”
As of now, the duo has three EPs available for your listening pleasure – 2017’s Next Stop, 2020’sWe Move Faster at Night, and 2022’s Look Inside – and upon listening, you can definitely hear the duo’s growth in their songwriting, not just in their lyricism, but also the music.
One thing they think that has separated them from most artists and bands is that they don’t put themselves in a singular box or a single genre. “I’d say one thing at least is that I don’t think we’ve necessarily placed ourselves in a position to where we’ve like stuck to one specific genre, ” divulges Abhari.
What makes them different, makes them great.
From record-to-record, their sound has constantly changed and evolved as they grew as a band and individually. “I feel like especially on these upcoming releases there’s something for everybody. Genrewise, I feel like it’s really diverse, and I think people are going to be surprised and excited about it,” Clem explains.
The duo has definitely evolved since their short beginnings just seven short years ago based on the band’s music they listen to, and what they lean towards in life.
“Well, I think it’s just matured with our music tastes,” Abhari says. “I think our music taste in general has been changing since, you know, [sic} even the first song we wrote at ACM versus the, like, [sic] the fifth song we wrote in that same year or couple years. But yeah, through that process, I think we’ve just kind of continued to do it. Usually what comes out of our writing sessions, I’d say like 70% of the songs we like.”
Clem adds, “Over time, I feel like we’ve gotten a lot more, like, [sic], intentional with things like lyrics and sonically we really try to hear it in our heads. I think the two of us kind of being, like self-produced for so long. I think we’ve gradually, like gotten better at figuring out how to get the bare bones of the song, like, close enough, and then we can take it to a producer, and then they can have kind of like a clear vision of what we’re trying to do. So I think just like with practicing production and recording, I think we’ve gotten a lot better at doing that.”
The Ivy is truly musically inspired by English indie-alt rock band, The 1975, and the listener can hear similarities in their music. “I guess they are still an influence to a degree now, but I think we’re more drawn to singer/songwriter-type stuff these days and just different producers that we think are cool. I really like Alex G. The band, Alvvays, is really cool, and been a huge inspiration to this project,” Clem explains.
For Abhari, “Well, this might be a kind of out of left field, but I almost feel like something that inspires the most me personally is just traveling;” — in fact, that’s part of the idea they got with their new single, “Good Faith.” They traveled to Punta Mita, Mexico — (“it’s right west of Punta Vallarta,” per Abhari), for a 9-10 hour trip, to a write this song basically out of a storage container-like Villa where “we set up a little home studio in and we started that one from scratch there. I just found some guitar chords and then slowly just started putting like gibberish words to it and I think that we decided on a melody pretty fast, and just continued to write that at home when we got back. Then we took it to Santa Monica and that’s where we kind of finished working out the details of it.”
“The producers we work with live in Santa Monica. We like how it ended up sounding, you know. The final product versus the very first demo in that shipping container. It’s similar, but it’s crazy to see the difference,” Abhari bares.
“I think that this song was one that really excited both of us equally. Which has happened before, but I feel like most of the time it’s not as instant whereas like this song, we were just like, immediately pumped about it,” Clem divluges.
The duo will be going out on the second leg of a headline tour that they will be continuing in October (see below for dates). They are most excited for just “building on what we started with the first two weeks,” Abhari began. “I would say we stopped right as it was getting more and more exciting from show to show. We were just kind of getting in the groove of things, which is always fun. So, as we move into the last leg of the tour in the last shows, I think it’ll be exciting because we already kind of have our systems in place. Yeah, just meeting the fans and seeing who comes out for the West Coast shows will be really exciting.”
2023 TOUR DATES
Tues, 10/10/23: Spiderhouse Ballroom, Austin, TX, 8:00 PM
Fri, 10/13/23: Dada Dallas, Dallas, TX, 8:00 PM
Sat, 10/14/23: Resonant Head, Oklahoma City, OK, 8:00 PM
Sun, 11/26/23: The Rebel Lounge, Phoenix, AZ, 7:30 PM
Mon, 11/27/23: Soda Bar, San Diego, CA, 7:30 PM
Wed, 11/29/23: The Moroccan Lounge, Los Angeles, CA, 6:30 PM
Thurs 11/30/23: The Starlet Room, Sacramento, CA, 7:00 PM
Sat, 12/02/23: Funhouse, Seattle, WA, 8:00 PM
Mon, 12/04/23: The Urban Lounge, Salt Lake City, UT, 7:00 PM
Wed, 12/06/23: Lost Lake Lounge, Denver, UT, 8:00 PM
Fri, 12/08/23: Vanguard, Tulsa, OK, 8:00 PM
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