Thursday, July 31, 2008

The Summer of Twee presses on!


This Is Ivy League is a bit of an alter identity for it's members. You see, the two members of This Is Ivy League, Alex Suarez and Ryland Blackinton, have a day job with super emo stars Cobra Starship. When they're not receiving 10,000,000 Myspace plays on their page, they're not holed up somewhere not playing with their hair, but instead writing pop music that would make most emo kids question why they're hung up on being so miserable.

This Is Ivy League's album, This Is Ivy League is a masterful whirl of sugary twee pop perfection. It's as if Alex and Ryland were possessed by an AM Radio and forced to write jangly pop ditties about love and erm the weather. About the easiest comparison would be to say This Is Ivy League sounds as though Belle and Sebastian had American accents, listened to a lot of Matinee Records, and figured that every song must be happy.

The eleven songs on This Is Ivy League are just about perfect in every way and sound as if they were hidden away in an attic for 30 years and found by the band purely by accident. The first three songs alone are so incredibly good that they could very well be singles of the year; if it were 1974 they would be giving the Carpenters a run for their money.

Truly the definition of pop perfection, This Is Ivy League is a stunning record of happy go lucky music that's in such a good mood, it's infectious. The songs on This Is Ivy League are crisp and springy and overjoyed that you're listening to them and after one listen you'll find yourself just as elated.

They might be emo stars during the day, but you get the sense after listening to This Is Ivy League that the members of This Is Ivy League truly love making music of this nature far more than they do for their day job. Whether they do or don't is unknown but here's hoping that they continue to make records as This Is Ivy League for many years.

Download: The Richest Kids
Download: London Bridges
Download: You Me and the Moon (Magnetic Fields cover)

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