New Eras with Alice Ivy
Written by Sara West & Elise Abotomey
Hailing from Naarm/Melbourne, Alice Ivy incorporates nostalgic beats with incredible lyricism to create your new favourite song. Many songs are relatable for all, but Ivy also isn’t afraid to touch on topics many other songwriters look past. Most recently, ‘Popstar’ with Låpsley, which discusses the struggles of being an up-and-coming musician.
If you need a new song to scream to in your car (a personal favourite of the Pleaser team), Ivy’s music will fit perfectly. We chatted to Alice Ivy about recent releases, creative process and more!
Photo by Dominik Schmarsel
We loved ‘Broke My Heart’, how do you go about choosing collaborators?
All different ways really! In the case of "Broke My Heart", Mallrat is a really close friend of mine and we spend a lot of time at my studio together. I co-wrote and produced a couple of tracks on her debut album, but we've always got something cooking. We wrote the bones of "Broke My Heart" one afternoon and it was sounding really cool, but there was something missing that I couldn't quite put my finger on, so I decided to rest it for a minute. A little while later I travelled to the UK for some shows and I saw Jelani Blackman perform at The Great Escape and his set blew me away! We got talking about collaborating at some point and I sent him the demo of "Broke My Heart". He dropped a verse on it and sent it back a few days later and it fit perfectly!
We have a new era of music, how do the new tracks differ from the last?
One thing I've been loving lately is stepping away from the screen in favour of playing more live instrumentation on my tracks. I've been rekindling my love affair with the guitar, bass, synths and occasionally tapping live drummers as opposed to just programming the drums myself. It's a real blend of organic, analogue sounds with electronic production. Another major difference about this era of the project is that I'm mostly collaborating with international artists. My last album "Don't Sleep" had a couple of international guests, but the rest was more or less a showcase of my favourite local artists from here in Australia. This time I travelled to London, New York, Nashville and Los Angeles over the course of a couple of years, jumping in studios with different artists. It was an incredible experience and I think the album sounds a lot more "global" as a result. There's also a lot more indie rock influences coming through (that's probably due to the guitar), but don't worry there's still a few dance banga's in the mix!
Photo by Dominik Schmarsel
Was the creative process different?
Well the vast majority of "Don't Sleep" was written at my studio in Melbourne, whereas this one was written all over the world. I was also meeting a lot of the collaborators on the new album for the first time when we stepped into the studio together. It can be kind of awkward at first, like "Hello, my name's Annika, do you want to write a song together?", but we always find a way to break the ice, talk about records we're loving or something cool we've heard recently and before you know it the creative juices are flowing.
You’ve been touring! How do you bring your songs to life on stage from the studio?
This is a topical one because for the last few years I've been playing with a live backing band, but recently I've reworked my live set-up to perform the songs solo, which is something I haven't done much of since the beginning of the project. I sing, play guitar, synth and use a sample-pad to recreate elements of the tracks in a live setting. It's a lot of work for me, but it's also kind of liberating, being able to deliver the show all by myself (mind you I'll definitely be getting the band back together at some point!)
As a producer, what is the most exciting thing when working with artists to create their vision?
The most exciting thing about producing music for other artists is that I get to step outside of my Alice Ivy project and take it in any direction they want to go in. There's a real sense of freedom using my songwriting and production skills and instincts to help someone else realise their vision. I really enjoy working with artists at all levels, but there's something really special about being a part of a project or career that's still developing, when the artist is still figuring out who they are and what it is exactly they want to say.
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