By Terry Sawyer
Photo © courtesy Nettwerk Records

Ivy has quite a rocky, metal band back story for an outfit that sounds like a massaging white noise meteor shower. Sonic architect, Andy Chase elaborates on the coming of age horror show of those tender first years. "On our early records we were such a polite indie pop band and yet we had such tumultuous recording sessions. We scared our first record company because we were screaming all the time at each other and they were worried about physical violence. It was very, very dysfunctional and somewhat exacerbated by the fact that Dominque and I were going out at the time."

Add to that Fleetwood Mac moment a few free-for-all kick boxing van fights between Dominique and bassist Adam Schlesinger and it's easy to wonder aloud how such entangled volatility could make it to a fifth album. With In The Clear (Nettwerk) Ivy has arrived at the best possible meld of their incarnations. The fuzz pop roots peek through in songs more definitively structured, less like un-spooling skeins of interstellar fog. The electronic elements have been pushed into the seamless periphery and bass lines as thick and wet as ripe plums glide through choruses that almost incidentally seduce with one curling finger, just as they shake free of gravity.

Singer, and one third of the Ivy trinity, Dominique Durand describes the approach as an attempt to bring Ivy back to a sound with a more immediate touch: "We felt we went a little overboard with the electronic parts on Long Distance (2001). For the new record we wanted a more visceral sound, with more instruments. There's actually no drum loops or samples on the record."

The free form interplay approach actually began with the band's work on There's Something About Mary, where a couple of well-placed songs pushed them into a wider, brighter critical spotlight. Durand relates, "Adam and Andy would just go into a sound booth and play. There were no songs, it was just jamming in the studio and coming up with ideas afterward. We had such a great time and we loved working that effortlessly together. That seemed to be really good for us so we came back to that idea when we made In The Clear."

Chase elaborates that their looser, chain reacting process blended each member's styles seamlessly. "In the past it was much easier to identify each other's songs. With this record, it's hard to remember who started what idea." I struggle with the words "more aggressive" in the press kit and the phrase makes both of them burst into laughter. After all, Durand's accent alone turns kneecaps into melting pats of butter. Chase brushes it off, "I've heard us say amongst ourselves that this is our most aggressive record, but that's like The Carpenters saying that this is their most energetic record to date."

But there is something in that descriptor that captures a thread of In The Clear; the sense that each element has more breathing space and that their trademark ethereality gives away ever so slightly to allow a guitar riff room to burst and Durand's vocals room to pivot before plunging back into the feedback filigree.

Despite the lack of fisticuffs, the adventurousness did give rise to studio scuffs, where either the singing or lyrics or sound crossed the invisible bounds that shatter the collaborative chemistry. Durand recounts one song that Chase, grousing in the background of the storytelling, still wishes ended up on the record. "So I just run to the studio and was like, are you kidding guys, are you high? Adam and Andy loved it. It was very Pet Shop Boys overproduced. When you work with three people together, there's always going to be taste differences."

On the whole, minor skirmishes aside, this album clearly presents a band that has chosen artistic triumph over ego clash, channeling those battle scars into a conspiracy of beauty. Durand reflects on the creative riches of being a band that's older and wiser. "It's actually enjoyable now to work together much more than years ago when we had to deal with normal issues of ego and things. Now, it's like brothers and sisters working together. We know our strengths and weaknesses. We can communicate really well. We have so many other things going on in our lives, so that when we do Ivy, it just feels good to come back to it."

Chase adds his Amen to the love fest. "There's nothing to fight about anymore. We've had all the fights. We can read each other now. It's nice to be looking at each other and making music and enjoying it." For the rest of us, it's nice to be on the sharing end of a hard won truce.