Apparently, these guys are members of Cobra Starship, a band best known for a "G.I. Joe" title reference and for soundtracking the blog-fueled non-hit Snakes on a Plane. That overlap is surprising only because This Is Ivy League's studiously tweedy sound seems so completely at odds with their day job's hipster-glam hooks and right-place-right-time low-level popularity. Alex Suarez and Ryland Blackinton have obviously spent a lot of late night cramming for their Collegiate Folk Pop of the 1960s final, and they've developed a strong sense of the era and its telltale sounds: gossamer melodies, gentle harmonies, wistful guitars, lovelorn lyrics. Their self-titled debut delivers it all with a polite tap on the shoulder rather than a knowing wink. No way is "London Bridges" ironic appropriation, not with that bouncy bass line and nursery-rhyme hook.
There are, of course, significant dangers that come with such a backwards-looking project, namely its tendency for re-creation rather than interpretation. This Is Ivy League don't entirely skirt these pitfalls: "Viola", "Modern World", and "Visions of Tokyo" come across as pastiche, imitative rather than innovative. At moments like these, their musical affections sound closer to hipster affectations, but more often, the duo filter a modern sensibility through their studyfolk, singing about indie backlash ("The Richest Kids"), the rigors of touring ("Love Is Impossible"), and wrecked relationships ("Don't Waste Your Love on Me"), all firmly planted in a particular scene. They're neither as shut-in as Kings of Convenience nor as mordantly funny as Belle & Sebastian, but there is something refreshing about how they take this music away from the library carrels and show it around Brooklyn.
Noses out of books, Blackinton and Suarez make folk-pop a soundtrack for shindigs and get-togethers, all populated with frenemies and hook-ups. They write a surprisingly poignant paean to their circle of friends on "Celebration" ("When we get together, feels like all my worries disappear"), although it's followed by "A Summer Chill", their takedown of a "well regarded party girl" that sounds too bitter despite its sugary hook. At times listening to the album can be like scrolling through a stranger's Flickr account-- who the hell are these people?-- but typically, Ivy League add enough musical flourishes to keep you clicking through, usually in the form of a succinct chorus or, in the case of closer "Don't Waste Your Love on Me", a guitar riff that sounds like skipping a stone across some autumnal pond. When they throw a party, they invite everyone. They don't teach that in school.
