Melbourne based beat-maker and electrifying musical force, Alice Ivy, today reveals the release date of her debut album alongside the official video for latest single ‘Be Friends’. Her debut album, I’m Dreaming, is set to be released February 9, 2018 via Dew Process / Universal Music Australia and to mark its release, Alice Ivy will be heading out across the country for a massive, not-to-be-missed, national headline tour throughout February and March.
Alice Ivy shot the official music video for her dreamy summer anthem, ‘Be Friends’ at The Plot Festival in Sydney on Saturday November 18. The video’s narrative portrays friends, Alice Ivy and Sydney artist and ‘Get Me A Drink’ collaborator, E^ST, desperately trying to find each other in a busy festival atmosphere and features a series of cameo appearances by other local artists including Northeast Party House, Saatsuma, Lanks and more culminating in the pair of them re-uniting on stage to perform in front of a wild crowd.
“It’s fitting that the music video for ‘Be Friends’ features so many of my ACTUAL friends, who were performing or hanging out at The Plot. This was my first time appearing in my own video and it was challenging because I was also performing that day but it was also heaps of fun! Typically, I’d be focusing on my show but I also had to prioritise shooting the video. It was spontaneous and mine and E^ST’s performances were very off-the-cuff, but Jack and Jack from Yeah Sure were so easy-going and made the whole experience super smooth. I’m really stoked with how it turned out.”
I’m Dreaming, which was entirely self-produced and engineered by the 24-year old, Alice Ivy AKA Annika Schmarsel, was mostly recorded in her DIY home studio in Brunswick. Mixed by ARIA winning and platinum record selling producer Cam Bluff, the album sees Ivy collaborate with some the likes of Australian singer-songwriter, Bertie Blackman who lends her inimitable voice to ‘Chasing Stars’, E^ST who steers ‘Get Me A Drink’ as well as London-based, blues vocalist Georgia Van Etten who co-wrote and features on ‘Touch’ as well as ‘Almost Here’ and the title track, ‘I’m Dreaming’.
“I’m Dreaming is an album that was written to be listened to from start-to-finish. While there are tracks that resemble more conventional song writing, there’s also instrumentals and less conventional moments that invite the listener on a journey down the rabbit-hole. For me the album is the sum of its parts as well as something that I intentionally crafted to be transferable into a live setting.
When writing music, I draw on a wide-range of influences from classic soul to contemporary neo-soul like Hiatus Kaiyote or Anderson Paak as well as iconic producers I grew up on such as J Dilla, Flying Lotus and Kanye West. Each individual track is a rich a collage of sounds that in some cases took shape over a period of many months.
Sounds that I played or created in my home-studio, captured with a zoom recorder while travelling abroad or laid down in hotel rooms and Air BnB’s while on the road. I guess you could say this album is a sonic pastiche of the last two years of my life and my first two years of being Alice Ivy.”
Alice Ivy has already enjoyed some huge career moments in the last 18-months. She has performed more than 100 shows in 4 continents including lead supports for the likes of Oh Wonder (UK), Billie Eilish (UK) Urthboy, Remi and E^ST. She also completed maiden dates in the USA and Singapore, Canadian Music Week PLUS a stack of stand-out performances at festivals including Festival Of The Sun, Listen Out national tour, The Plot, Melbourne Music Week Splendour In The Grass, St Kilda Festival, Listen Out, Strawberry Fields, Paradise Music Festival, Queenscliff Music Festival 2016, NYE On The Hill 2016, Pitch Music Festival 2017, Groovin’ The Moo 2017 and VIVID 2017.
Alice Ivy, now armed with brand-new material is poised to take her powerful, infections and energetic live show across the country. Her previous two Australian headline tours sold-out well in advance so fans are advised to act quick to secure tickets.
Alice Ivy
‘I’m Dreaming’ National Headline Tour
FRI 16 FEB HUDSON BALLROOM SYDNEY NSW
w/ special guests Nasty Mars & Oh Boy
FRI 23 FEB BLACK BEAR LODGE BRISBANE QLD
w/ special guests Nasty Mars & Keelan Mak
SAT 24 FEB HOWLER MELBOURNE VIC
w/ special guests Nasty Mars & The Martians,
François, Sophiegrophy and more TBA
FRI 2 MAR ROCKET BAR ADELAIDE SA
w/ special guests TBA
SAT 3 MAR MR LONELY PERTH WA
w/ special guests TBA
THU 29 MAR STAR BAR BENDIGO VIC
w/ special guests TBA
ALSO APPEARING AT
SUN 31 DEC – FALLS FESTIVAL, LORNE, VIC
MON 1 JAN – FALLS FESTIVAL, BYRON BAY, NSW
FRI 9 MARCH / SAT 10 MARCH – PANAMA FESTIVAL, TAS
SUN 11 – 18 MARCH – SXSW 2018 – AUSTIN, TEXAS USA
23 – 25 MARCH – THE HILLS ARE ALIVE – VIC