[review 2005: the best of the year]

In The Clear is a dangerous album to write about. It’s not an especially interesting album, it doesn’t challenge the senses or break new ground, and it’s not far different from what people have come to expect from Ivy—effortless pop music of the purest vintage, anchored by Dominique Durand’s luxurious, accented vocals. If we were talking about the most important albums of the year, versus ones that were just my favourites of the year, In The Clear would be nowhere near the top. By nearly every measure you compare it to, In The Clear should fall well short of being on a best-of-year list. And yet, here it is.

So why is this album dangerous? Because if you asked me why I liked it, I’d shrug my shoulders, play you a couple of tracks and say, “isn’t it pretty?” Which it most certainly is. I guess I could drop a couple of two-bit collegiate words like “effervescent” and “ethereal” to describe the album, and those words do sort of fit. But the best explanation I can give of why In The Clear still sticks in my memory where so many albums this year didn’t is that it’s basically a musical anti-depressant. It’s not overly sacchrine, not too brash, not very harsh; it’s just an album of pop music you can pop in the player and drift away to for an hour. If In The Clear commits any sins, it’s perhaps the overproduced sheen. But this is Ivy we’re talking about, one of the slickest pop outfits out there. People call Ivy “sophisticated” not necessarily because they’re complex (though their songs are always layered in a web of textures), but because their music conjures up images of poolside cocktails, European beach resorts and jetsetting across the continent. Overproduced? Did you expect any different?

And anyways, it doesn’t interfere much with the songs. “Nothing Like The Sky” is one of the best pop songs of the year; it’s bliss translated into music, so weightless as to carry you into the stratosphere. The rest of the album can’t help but sink slightly compared to this first track, but to its credit Ivy doesn’t back down easily. Aside maybe from “Clear My Head,” there isn’t a weak song to be found. “Corners Of Your Mind” reminds me of Ivy’s cover of the Go-Betweens’ “Streets Of Your Town,” which is as good a track to take from as any. “I’ve Got You Memorized” is an equally peppy number, the closest Ivy gets to an outright rock song. “Keep Moving” sits at the other end of the spectrum, a fine example of the futuristic Europop Ivy occasionally tries its hand at. But really, the album is so consistently good that many of the nice things I could write about one track would apply equally as well to a bunch of others on the album. And anyways, it all pretty much amounts to the same thing: it’s all so pretty, from the opening strains of “Nothing Like The Sun” to the fade out of “Feel So Free.”

Well executed pop albums don’t get a lot of respect these days, for whatever reason. This is fine to an extent; music would go nowhere if every album was an In The Clear, an album that doesn’t at all push any envelopes. But that doesn’t mean it’s not a great sounding album, or that it doesn’t put a smile on my face. If I can’t explain it any better than that, that’s my fault; you’ll just have to take my word for it.