The band Ivy schedule first album in 15 years, including music by Adam Schlesinger, for September

Ivy have announced their first new album in 15 years. Built from the ground up using demos and song fragments dating from between 1995 to 2012, Traces of You is due out September 5 via Bar/None Records.

“The world thought IVY was gone after 2012, and for a time we did too. And after Adam's death in 2020 it seemed certain,” shares the band’s Andy Chase “So Dominique and I are thrilled to give everyone a brand new IVY album, with our beloved Adam playing on every song!”

Formed in 1994, Ivy includes Andy Chase, Dominique Durand, and the late Adam Schlesinger. Sadly, Durand and Chase assumed that Ivy was in the rearview after Schlesinger tragically passed away from COVID-19 in 2020. While prepping recent reissues of their back catalog, the band unearthed a trove of reel-to-reel tapes and old hard drives stored in their Rhode Island studio. The duo knew they would only consider working on Ivy demos featuring Schlesinger, but they were overwhelmed by deciding which songs to finish. In response, they reached out to Ivy's backing keyboardist and guitarist, Bruce Driscoll, to help go through the archives and revive these lost recordings.

Every song on Traces of You features contributions from Schlesinger, with the blessing of his family. Lead single “Say You Will,” featuring drums from Joey Waronker (Beck, R.E.M.), was built from a 2009 demo where Schlesinger played bass and keyboard.

WATCH OFFICIAL VIDEO FOR “SAY YOU WILL”

Previously, Ivy released six studio albums. Over the years, a new generation of artists discovered Ivy, citing them as a major inspiration and influence. These include Snail Mail, Beach Fossils, Momma, Slow Pulp, Wishy, DJ Python.

The band broke their years long silence in late 2021 to honor the passing of Adam Schlesinger, compiling home videos from studio sessions and those early tours in memory of their friend and bandmate into a moving tribute video. Over the last few years, they’ve reissued Realistic, Apartment Life, and Long Distance, including rare demos and unreleased music with each release.

Understandably, recording without Schlesinger was often an emotional experience, with Durand citing “Fragile People” especially as a tune that brought her and Chase to tears in the studio. “Unintentionally, the song stirred up something really melancholy for us— in a very specific way—about Adam,” she says. She notes that Ivy didn’t want to lean on cliches about losing Adam when writing lyrics. “It's influenced by the loss of someone like him, but we did it in a way that's very subtle,” she says. “There's a ghostly feeling in the meaning of the lyrics.”

Poignantly, Traces Of You ends with “Hate That It’s True.” A pop song about the pain of unresolved grief and the power of eternal love, it has Schlesinger on acoustic guitar. 

“You can imagine how terrible it's been to lose Adam,” Chase says. “The only silver lining is that we could breathe life into these songs that he contributed to and it was a great experience making this record happen. It was some of the most fun I've ever had, working on music with Dominique and Bruce.”

“It was also bittersweet,” he adds. “But what was nice about the bittersweetness was that I wasn't alone in feeling that way. We all did. We were like a school of fish— three little fish, missing that fourth fish, all swimming in perfect union with each other, going through both the highs and lows.”

Track list:

01 The Midnight Hour

02 Fragile People
03 Mystery Girl
04 Traces of You
05 The Great Unknown
06 Say You Will
07 Heartbreak
08 Lose It All
09 Wasting Time
10 Hate That It’s True