Friday I took the El from my job in Old City out to 30th Street Station for a free lunchtime concert at the University of Pennsylvania’s Adult -Alternative public radio station, WXPN. It’s a short walk from the station to ‘XPN’s studios, but you never know when a truck might come crashing onto the sidewalk and flip over. ‘XPN has been hosting these Free-At-Noon (“F.A.N.”) concerts for a couple months now, but Friday’s was the first time I attended one.
The band performing this lunchtime was Ivy. Ivy is a trio fronted by Parisian Dominique Durand. Durand is backed by her husband Andy Chase and Fountains of Wayne’s Adam Schlesinger. The only thing I knew about Ivy before seeing them was the Schlesinger connection, and that’s what made me want to see them live. It turns out that Ivy has been around longer than Fountains of Wayne and has built up a pretty big alt-music fan base of its own.
The sounds of Ivy and Fountains of Wayne are literally as different as night and day. Fountains of Wayne specializes in goofy sunny power pop songs while Ivy’s music has a sultry, airy, after-hours sound. What both bands share, outstanding musical and songwriting talent, is no doubt due in large part to Schlesinger’s influence. Those who know Fountains of Wayne only from their hit "Stacy’s Mom" might not know it, but their albums are musically all over the map and their lyrics are sharp and funny without ever getting overly obnoxious. Schlesinger reminds me a lot of Beck, in that he wears his musical influences on his sleeve but at the same time tries to expand on their sound rather than just imitating it.
Where Fountains of Wayne’s sharp lyrics might not make you notice the musical talent behind them, I think Ivy’s music highlights Schlesinger and Chase’s talents over the singing ability of Durand. Durand’s voice reminded me of Tracy Thorn (of Everything But the Girl) and Beth Orton, except that there was no change in it from song to song, no fluctuations to make it interesting. It’s a beautiful voice, but after a while my mind heard it more as a background to the music rather than the other way around. In defense of Durand, seeing her at a break in my workday while eating a brown bag lunch probably wasn’t the right venue to fully appreciate her sultry voice. On the way out I picked up their current CD In the Clear, so hopefully I will have a chance to hear her in a more proper setting.
I took my camera with me to the concert (and an after-concert tour of ‘XPN’s new digs). I hope to create a photo album of some of the shots soon. This Friday’s Free-At-Noon concert features the Old Crow Medicine Show, who’s song “Wagon Wheel” has gotten a lot of play on ‘XPN. I’d love to go to that one too, but I’ll be stuck at a meeting in Trenton. Woo-Hoo!
Update (03.21.05): My Ivy photo album is up.
Comments