Wild Ivy - Wild Ivy League
There’s an admirable charm to Wild Ivy’s Wild Ivy League. The instrumentation is lush, the progressions are admirable, and the overall aesthetic is incredibly warm and psychedelic. At times, it sounds like Fleet Foxes at their sweetest, Beach Boys at their most robust, and Animal Collective at their creative folk peak. Like the albums that clearly inspired it, Wild Ivy League transitions beautifully within sections, further enticing the listener further down its luscious stream of consciousness the further its run time runs.
The opener, Deep Sea Diver, is nothing to write home about; though it perfectly sets the mood for Wild Ivy League. The Water Spirits Have Got Me continues the mood, though is lacklustre compared to its preceding track. Thanks is rather repetitive and has little to differentiate from its influences. Much could be same for A Child Went Forth. Nevertheless, the album vastly improves as it progresses; the latter half exceeds at its delirious and majestic soundscape. Boats is wonderfully expressive and boasts and impressive child-like wonder, Junkie is passionate and expressive, and Spring ends the album in a sweet and memorable manner.
While the songs are quite magical and exuberantly executed, Wild Ivy struggle to develop its own style on Wild Ivy League. While it exceeds greatly at replicating its influences, it has trouble differentiating itself from them. This is partly due not to the aesthetics, but the structure and composition of the tracks. Furthermore, one can’t help wonder if the vocal delivery has anything to do with its lack of identity; they are overly-reverbed and mixed in far too amateurishly. Nevertheless, Wild Ivy League is quite a delight and well worth a listen.
Good
Listen to it here:
Wild Ivy League - Wild Ivy League
