by Frank Gualtier -- 05/08/06, 06/17/06, 08/14/07
Ivy York is the latest thing that's been on my mind and in my iPod. I'm always drawn to a nice voice and hers grabbed me like a magnet.She has shades of Christina Amphlett (Divinyls) forged into the upper registers of something like an Ambrosia Parsley (Shivaree). How she manages to keep such a potential powder keg of sugar south of the saccharine zone is beyond me but she does and it's breathtaking -- no insulin required.
I personally shy away from cover bands but had read that Ivy and bandmate Ravi Panesar wrote their own music. To be sure I asked Ivy herself and was told -- "yes we do write and produce all of our own material". That's all I had to hear.
My favorite IY song is 'In Your Arms', a really warm and highly danceable strut that sort of takes me back to the 60's-70's. Despite the oohs and ahs and guitar fills, it doesn't sound overly retro to me. Perhaps just retro enough. I can see why they're sometimes compared to 'The Cardigans' but I would add - "without the jagged edges."
The song 'Whatever Happened' has a rich rounding sound almost reminiscent of a leslie at times and is colored with the equal spritz of sometimes-sad and always dreamy vivacity that permeates all their music.
All tracks I've heard could readily sprout those lover's "this is our song" legs on both warm sunny beach getaways and dead of winter ski lodge retreats.
Finally, these are all exceptional mixes. You hear nothing but the dreamy heartfelt music and vocals of Ivy York.
Check Ivy York out on myspace and her website.
You'll be able to download songs and I believe she even has a disc available upon request.
UPDATE -- I finally took a gander at Ivy York -- The In Your Arms video and was sorry I waited.
If you thought the song was addictive and endearing and made you ache for that someone special then the video will snap you like a twig. You're thinking, what could be better than hearing Ivy sing `I love you`? I'll tell you what could be better -- Watching Ivy sing `I love you` right in your face !*swoon*! So go check it out and bring snacks because you'll want to keep checking it out. Over and over and over...
On a more technical note the quality is stunning. At full screen it looks sharp as DVD to me and the sound is on par.
Don't wait like I did -- this is one trip you will not regret.
Clips from 'In Your Arms' the video
Links for Ivy York:
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