By Ryan J. Nims
One of the things that happens when a person is really into music is that they feel a certain kinship with musicians. So when they pass on, it feels like a friend has gone. For some, it was Kurt Cobain or Tupac Shakur, for others, Amy Winehouse or Liam Payne. When Adam Schlesinger died on April 1, 2020, of complications from COVID at the age of 52, I was crushed. Between Ivy and Fountains of Wayne, I had been a fan of Schlesinger’s for over a quarter century! Though not a household name, Schlesinger was one of this generation’s greatest crafters of pop songs, having co-written songs for the aforementioned bands as well as writing songs for artists as diverse as The Monkees, America, Stephen Colbert, and the Jonas Brothers, just to name a few.
Coming together in the early 1990s, New York’s Ivy consisted of multi-instrumentalists Schlesinger and Andy Chase, and French singer Dominique Durand. Blending dreamy pop and lush indie with an international flair, Ivy released six albums from 1995 to 2011. Chase and Durand did not intend to keep going without Schlesinger, which made the news of a new album surprising, but even more surprising was that the new music would be built upon ideas that Schlesinger had recorded over the years. Traces of You (Bar/None Records, 2025) was released on September 5th.
Overall, Traces of You is an album about grief. The band used the sessions as a way of grieving their lost bandmate, while using his ideas to craft an album’s worth of songs. They brought in friend Bruce Driscoll to pick through the demos and help with production and instrumentation. Other guests on the album include Brian Young and Jody Porter of Fountains of Wayne, Eric Matthews, who has worked with musicians such as Elliott Smith, Jason falkner and the Dandy Warhols, and Joey Waronker (Beck, R.E.M. drummer).
Traces of You opens with “Midnight Hour,” a groovy pop track based on a piece of music from 2003. Some of the vocal parts, as well as bits of drums, were original to that demo.
“Fragile People” opens with a gorgeous Mellotron part and some cool bass by Schlesinger. This was based around a demo from 2007, and it seems it was fairly complete, though the vocal melody and lyrics were written in 2025.
“Mystery Girl” was based on a 2008 piece with some of the melody and lyrics written by Schlesinger.
“Traces of You” is the first song that seems to explicitly reference Adam’s death. The lyrics are heartbreaking, but buffered by poppy instrumentation.
“The Great Unknown” is a synth-based song that seems like it could have been an outtake from their album All Hours (Nettwerk, 2011). The core of the song was from a 2010 demo.
“Say You Will” was chiefly written in 2007 and featured Chase on electric piano and Schlesinger on bass. The song is very groovy and dreamlike.
Also based on a 2007 demo, “Heartbreak” started out as an electronic beat, which was made a bit more soulful with the inclusion of a trumpet played by Eric Matthews.
The original source for “Lose It All” was described by Driscoll as having “a Pet Shop Boys feel.” The final song has been slowed down and features lush strings. Durand says this is one of her favorite songs on the album.
“Wasting Time” is another standout track and features some vocal melodies by Chase and Schlesinger. According to Driscoll, “That’s Adam singing ‘Duotone’ in the breakdown – his only vocal (if I remember correctly).” The bridge vocal by Schlesinger is haunting and beautiful. Probably my favorite song on this album.
“Hate That It’s True” is built around an acoustic guitar part played by Schlesinger, and according to Chase, it is their “homage to Adam.” A beautiful song, and a fitting tribute to their bandmate.
Thanks to the band Ivy and Bruce Driscoll for hosting a listening party on Bandcamp and giving insight into the making of the album. References to the dates of the demos and some behind-the-scenes information were pulled from the chat with listeners.
Traces of You is an excellent album and sounds cohesive despite being made up of various demos and outtakes. Really, it is just classic Ivy: pleasing pop music with wonderful harmonies and expert songwriting. Here’s hoping that we have more music coming. The band has teased their albums In the Clear (Nettwerk, 2005) and 2011’s All Hours being released on vinyl, as well as a collection of demos from Traces of You. Most of their albums are available via the Bandcamp page. Traces of You is available now on streaming, CD, and vinyl!