Annika Schmarsel was raised in Geelong, Australia, where she played guitar in soul-bands, moved to Melbourne where she began making beats, and now is based in Brunswick where she creates music under the persona of Alice Ivy. Her recent release, I’m Dreaming, is a chronicle of the first two years of that persona.
I’m Dreaming Takes You on an Alice Ivy Curated Journey
Alice Ivy comments on the album, “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 songwriting, there’s also instrumentals and less conventional moments that invite the listener on a journey down the rabbit-hole.”
The album remains true to its intentions, being catchy and fresh, enabling it to indeed be able to be listened to from start-to-finish. With its synth and vocal based approach, the album manages to have a galactic or ethereal quality to it Listening to the album truly does transport you “down the rabbit-hole.” These qualities are truly magnified in the track “Chasing Stars”, which was a collaboration between Alice Ivy and ARIA-winner Bertie Blackman.
Alice Ivy elaborates on her approach to songwriting, going on to say “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 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 Airbnbs while on the road.”
Perhaps her own experience traveling is what inspired Alice Ivy to attempt to create a journey with her music and what enabled her to so artfully do so.
