The darkest moments often result in the most creatively poignant pieces of work. In 2020, dream pop band Ivy lost their dear friend and band member Adam Schlesinger, who died of COVID at the height of the 2020 outbreak.

Schlesinger is often remembered for leading the “two-time Grammy-losing” pop-punk band Fountains of Wayne, as well as contributing to major motion picture soundtracks, such as That Thing You Do (from the 1996 film of the same name) that won him an Oscar for Best Original Song.

But it was this mad genius-type production mind that in 1999 led to the brilliance of their most revered album, Long Distance, which racked in commercial success, appearing across cult television shows such as Veronica Mars and Grey’s Anatomy. The record was born from the remnants of a studio fire that set the band back but would later become the turning point in changing the trajectory of their sound.

Vocalist Dominique Durand along with producer/instrumentalist Andy Chase and Schlesinger were halfway through completing the record at their studio in the Meatpacking district in New York. This was the same studio where the band had spent much of their prior album crafting their sound; it had become a second home. They hoped to recreate the magic of their 1997 album Apartment Life on the new project, but fate had different plans.

Durand remembers the band going on vacation and then suddenly getting a call that the whole building housing the studio was on fire and that everyone had to be evacuated. “We were panicking. We had no idea what kind of state our recordings would be in. We had master tapes in the studio. It was very traumatic,” said Durand.

Mysterious fires were reported across the city in the late ‘90s, while property value was going through the roof, and New York state law allowed landlords to evict tenants and to even cut their leases. This law allowing a landlord’s ability to evict without “good cause” only recently changed in 2024.

Meanwhile, the building was considered a ‘disaster zone’ but that didn’t stop the band from taking matters into their own hands.  In the dead of night, they crossed through yellow tape with flashlights in a harrowing rescue of what was left of their third album. Luckily the recordings were still intact, and they were able to salvage what was recorded up to that point. But they were left without the studio equipment that made their last album so iconic.

Chase remembers working with Schlesinger on trying to put the pieces together for Long Distance with “rudimentary equipment” at home.

“There was a song that we put a silly drum beat down using a drum machine [in the old studio]. And of course, we were going to put real drums down and eventually replace that. Well, we couldn’t do that anymore because our studio burned down,” said Chase. “But those drumbeats sounded kinda cool. And we knew we could do things to make it cooler.  We’d record it to a

cassette tape and then take the cassette tape and bring it back, and now the sound became all warbly and gritty sounding. We started relying on what we could do [on] the computer.” Real instruments were replaced with electronic ones, with drum machines changing the tone of Long Distance entirely. That innovation came right on cue. In the mid to late ‘90s, trip hop bands such as Massive Attack and Portishead gave way to a fresh wave of music that riveted audiences. Right in time for Ivy to take their mantle. Durand, Chase and Schlesinger took the loss from their studio fire and found a new home for their sound.

On the heels of Long Distance’s 25th anniversary, the band is gearing up to release their next album, drawing from samples of Schlesinger’s creations.

The album goes back to their roots – back to when Ivy was first created — reimagining Schlesinger’s voice in a new light. The band went through years of back catalog and unfinished songs in a scavenger hunt to find pieces of their friend.

“We felt almost an obligation to put this [new album] out there. It was a secret at first,” said Durand. “We’ve been working on this for the last few years. Getting little ideas here and there. But we always included Adam on each track. Even if it’s just his voice or if he’s playing the drums or keyboard…”

Durand describes the process akin to going through the agony of loss over and over again–reliving the anguish with each vocal or beat. Eventually, the duo worked through the pain and found inspiration.

“And we always had in mind – ‘do you think [Schlesinger] would be okay with that’? ‘Do you think we’re going too much in the direction that he wouldn’t like?’ I mean, even though he wasn’t there physically. He was absolutely there spiritually,” said Durand.

As the album has taken shape with Schlesinger at the soul of each track, the duo is looking toward their children for inspiration.  They discovered contemporary artists such as Dominique Fike or the Marias. In that way, it honors Ivy’s legacy – blending old and new. Similarly, the new recordings hold space for the duality of their turmoil, grieving their loss and embracing what’s still to come. The band hopes to release the new record in 2025 as a tribute to Schlesinger.

order the 25 Year Anniversary Reissue of Long Distance Featuring the unreleased Single “All I Ever Wanted” HERE