A hefty dose of Brooklyn folk yields perfect summer listening.

Ryland Blackinton and Alex Suarez admit they sometimes get stuck in the past. According to Blackinton, many of their favorite artists, such as Simon & Garfunkel and British folk duo Peter and Gordon, “recorded before 1971.” The technology of the times gave those groups a classic, guitar-pop sound that Blackinton and Suarez’s band, This Is Ivy League, tried to capture on their recent self-titled debut.
That they succeeded in creating a wistful, folk-pop record that could have garnered airplay in the LBJ era is testimony to how much making music has changed since Art and Paul’s heyday. The duo recorded their entire album on a laptop in Suarez’s Brooklyn, N.Y. apartment, capturing the drums, guitar and bass anywhere the acoustics were good—including the bathroom.
Watch an interview with the duo, as they discuss their influences, and watch some live footage from a recent concert.The two originally met as high school students in Boca Raton, Fla. and occasionally played together at friends’ parties. But when Blackinton left home to study acting in college, they drifted apart, with Suarez staying put to pursue a career in catering while delving into hardcore punk.
By 2004, both had become disenchanted with their chosen paths and relocated to Brooklyn. After barely seeing each other for seven years, they began chatting on MySpace and were shocked to discover they lived only blocks apart.
“We met up, and I said, ‘let me show you these songs I’ve been working on,’” Suarez says. “And he said, ‘check these songs out.’ One of the first songs he showed me was ‘Viola,’ and I was like...‘this is great, dude, I’m totally into this kind of bossanova-y stuff.’ I think that was the main attraction at first that really got us sparked.”
Blackinton said he and his old friend immediately clicked as songwriting partners, because they balance each other’s compositions. “I remember my stuff being really down-tempo, but his influence was this very upbeat, pop thing,” he said of their early collaborations.
When the group recorded their first single, “London Bridges,” they realized they had finally found the vintage sound they were seeking. “Ryland already had the main riff written, and it was really mellow,” Suarez says. “We decided to speed up the tempo and make it really pop and add some guitarmonies at the end and some sweet licks in the middle.”
Live, This Is Ivy League’s lineup swells to as many as seven members, including a rhythm section and two trumpeters. According to Suarez, having the extra players—and extra volume—saves them from having to play all-acoustic sets, which have on occasion been drowned out by chatty audiences. Even if their ranks grow on stage, the two are happy to remain a duo for songwriting and recording purposes.
“I think that both of us are stoked that there’s just one more for us to worry about, because I feel like we are able to move quickly,” Blackinton says. “And between the two of us, we are able to play the instruments that we want to play to make the music that we want to be able to make. We’re just trying to keep it as tight as possible.”
Shortly after forming This Is Ivy League, Blackinton and Suarez also joined popular pop-punk group Cobra Starship, a decision that has resulted in occasional jabs from those who take issue with their better-known-but-less-hip outfit. “It’s still pop music,” Blackinton says, “it’s just for different people.”
And though Cobra Starship’s popularity doesn’t influence the music the duo makes as This Is Ivy League, the band’s busy itinerary has made it impossible for them to tour extensively as a duo.
Fortunately, they did make time to record their debut album. “It was just this loose knot that was dangling that needed to be tied off,” says Blackinton. The album was released in April to rave reviews from the likes of Filter and Urb.
Simon & Garfunkel, Peter and Gordon, Kings of Convenience: listen to Blakinton and Suarez discuss their influential predecessors.The duo is planning to record another album later this year and hope to launch a nationwide tour as soon as they have the time. Although they admit being in two bands can be a headache, they say its just one of several balancing acts they must deal with.
“We call them pop songs, but pop doesn’t mean that it’s popular anymore. A lot of people, especially older people, say that it reminds them of what was on the radio back then. But I just think that it’s a different time for radio,” Blackinton says. “We just try to be honest with it and be true to our influences.”