Over a year and a half ago I caught Ivy James at a WFNM showcase at Hotel Ziggy. I was enthralled with her singer-songwriter tunes about teenage breakups. I added her to my list of favorite new bands and singers for 2024 (you can scan through that list here). I believe that set was mainly focused on her tunes that would later be released via the EP Ghost of You.
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| Ivy James at Hotel Ziggy |
Looking through the WFNM schedule, I noticed that she was playing an August set so I circled the date. It was time to catch up with the artist. Since that early 2024 set, she's been busy writing new material as the August set was dedicated to singing new tunes. I'm sure they'll be released as part of a new EP in the near future.
She opened up the set with "I Let You In." "I exist, because you used to believe in me," the sadness and frustration imbedded in those lyrics were emphasized by the hard strumming of the guitar. She included an Imogen Heap cover "Hide and Seek," which is about going through a divorce / breakup. It fit well with the theme of the set. Her song "I Want to be Adored" is about wanting to be adored by "someone who really doesn't want you and how embarrassing that is." It was sung with vocal anguish. She considers her song "Static is a Language" as her favorite that she's ever written, "Going in circles, I'm finding it hard to believe."
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| Ivy James at Hotel Ziggy |
Comment of the set, "Shaking off the nerves."
As for her friends in the audience, I noticed that many of them were squeezed tightly together on one of the couches. They were practically sitting atop each other.
Her Spotify bio says the following, "Californian native Ivy James is making waves as a self-taught musician, singer, and songwriter. With lyrics and melodies mature beyond her years, Ivy’s songwriting is cinematic, melancholy, complex in its simplicity, and uniquely original."
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| Ivy James at Hotel Ziggy |
Since her songs from the set are unreleased, I'll feature a song from her 2024 EP release. The song "Exorcist" falls in the vane of the heartbreak theme:
I need a vacation, I wanna see the beachI need a hill to climb
So I can get over what you did to me
Setlist: I Let You In, Only the Fortunate, Hide and Seek (Imogen Heap cover), I Want to be Adored, Static is a Language, Somebody Else
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