Crown Of Love Goes Ivy League
This is Ivy League covers Arcade Fire.
The indie rockers of Arcade Fire got together in 1995 when front man Win Butler was just 15. The lineup wasn't solidified until 2003 when Butler's wife joined the band, and the debut album recorded and released. The album was praised by critics and it seemed like you couldn't watch TV, a movie, or turn on a radio without hearing one of the songs being used in some capacity. MTV even gave Funeral the top slot on their list of the 50 best albums of the year.
A band that has gotten far less attention than Arcade Fire is This is Ivy League. Ryland Blackinton and Alex Suarez, best known for their other band Cobra Starship, grew up together in Boca Raton, Florida. They started writing music together when they reacquainted in Brooklyn, but their songs were put on the back burner initially for Starship. After they found seemingly overnight success with "Bring It" from the Snakes on a Plane soundtrack, Gabe Saporta asked Blackinton and Suarez to join up and make the band legitimate. In between tour dates and public appearances, the duo continued to work on their own songs that would become This is Ivy League, vowing to record their own album when things with Cobra Starship cooled down. Record the album they did, and it was released in April of this year.
The Arcade Fire surely have a distinct sound. The usual collection of rock instruments are there, but it's not uncommon to hear strings, xylophone, French horn, accordion, mandolin and hurdy gurdy. All of these unusual instruments can make Arcade Fire songs into extravagant productions that seem like miniature movies in their scale. From their debut album Funeral comes the song "Crown of Love" which begins as a somber tune but increases in both tempo and number of aural elements as the song progresses, eventually becoming quite the prolific experience.
This is Ivy League took "Crown of Love" and stripped it down to its roots. The last three minutes of the Arcade Fire version is completely scrapped and the tempo is slightly increased, but the song survives the drastic surgery and comes out on the other side as one of the most beautiful recordings ever. Instead of a giant arrangement that the Arcade Fire put together, This is Ivy League make the song almost as simple as it could get. A simple acoustic guitar progression repeats throughout the entire song under the pure vocals of Blackinton and Suarez. It's difficult to outdo Arcade Fire, but This is Ivy League's version of "Crown of Love" comes damn close.
Posted by Cory Roop on Jul 14, 2008 @ 8:10 am
