The Ivy & Lyncs Home for the Night in Brooklyn
Don’t Fall Asleep to This Tour Hits Bushwick’s Alphaville
review by Calli Ferguson
Released this past February, “Don’t Fall Asleep to This” is the brainchild of two dreamy indie pop projects with infectious soundscapes and a shared thing for layered melodies– The Ivy and Lyncs. It’s no surprise these two acts (overlapping in stylistic universes, likened to The 1975) came together to write a song. What seems serendipitous, though, is the effortlesslness. It’s just how nicely the vocals sound, perfectly sweet for the melancholic lyrics of “Don’t Fall Asleep to This”, combining for a sound that calls to artists like The Japanese House. Wistful and energetic, what it all adds up to is an upbeat groove on the surface, holding within it a layer of bittersweet yearning.
The artists have shared that the track started as a lullaby-like melody in the writing process, but the result certainly isn’t something to fall asleep to. Instead, it set in motion this spring’s Don’t Fall Asleep to This Tour. The Ivy’s cross-country tour with support from Lyncs hit major cities across the US, and would bring both acts to Alphaville for a night in Brooklyn earlier last month.
The Ivy, an Oklahoma based duo from Wyatt Clem and Shawn Abhari, and Lyncs, the solo project of Lancaster-raised artist Jacqueline Hynes, have been playing to a new room each night since kicking off in Albuquerque March 25th.
For their night in Brooklyn, the stage at Alphaville was set with standing floor lamps– the kind you’d see by a couch or maybe tucked in a cozy corner. Coupled with the layered Persian-style stage rugs and the natural intimacy of the venue, there was something homey about the setup. “Homey” stood in quiet contrast to the transient reality of tour life. But for touring artists, that contrast may be essential—the stage, no matter the city, is the constant amid change.
That sense of unpredictability on the road was emphasized mid-set, when The Ivy’s singer/songwriter/guitarist, Wyatt Clem, told the crowd that they were on their third set of wheels. The first (lovingly referred to as “Franklin”) had died, the second (an SUV) was stolen, and the third (and current) had them “rollin’ around in a giant U-Haul.”
“This has been the tour from hell,” Clem shared somewhat kiddingly preceding the Franklin/SUV/Uhaul story. Based on what we had seen that night so far, you never would have known- hold for the cast on the guitarist’s hand, which he’d injured. If it created a problem for his performance, he certainly didn’t show it.
Before all this, though, came a set from Lyncs. She came on stage to an enthusiastic crowd and opened with her tender track, “miss u”, setting the stage for the coming-of-age storytelling that runs through her work. With lyrics that lean literal at times, her songs can be evocative of Phoebe Bridgers or Lorde. But Lyncs brings her own edge: breathy vocals layered over electronic textures that give her songs both softness and bite. There’s a depth to her sound—sometimes brushing up against angst—that draws sharp attention to the emotion of each track.
Lyncs’ set was embellished with the kind of audience interaction that pulls you into the moment. The most literal example of that happened when she prompted the crowd to hug ourselves and feel our feet on the floor, before she started playing her recent release “I LIVE IN THIS BODY”. Reminders to be in our body are something that we rarely get, but could almost always benefit from. And in the very sensory and very present space of a live music environment, it really worked. Lyrics that said, “wish that I could hold her closer” while wound up in your own embrace, offered this moment of self-love. What a cool gift to find in a concert experience.
Of course, The Ivy then found a warm stage and crowd for their set, opening with “Hurts Just Right” from their 2022 EP Look Inside. Between Clem, Abhari, and their drummer, they were able to translate the layered feel of their studio production into a live sound that felt full and dynamic. Fueled by fun-to-move-to pop hooks, the set was grounded with a present energy that kept the performance feeling personal.
They played their fan favorite, “Have You Ever Been In Love” mid-set, and for an eponymous moment, brought LYNCS back up for a performance of “Don’t Fall Asleep to This”. It was a clear high point of the evening- the three musicians seemed to be genuinely enjoying themselves, which always has an intoxicating effect on the rest of us.
By the time “Thirty Eight” came around, the room swelled with emotion—an audience of singing fans adding beautiful texture to the chorus. Easily another stand-out moment. The Ivy even slipped us a cover of Clairo’s “4EVER”—groovy as heck, at that, and the kind of surprise that felt somehow inevitable.
The Ivy closed the night with the viral 2017 hit, “Gold,”- a nostalgic finish to the evening both in context and the song’s sound. “And now I'm trying to make it there / Take me back to the summer air / When a shadow of innocence remained”. There was something satisfyingly full circle about that finale. For me, catching the Don’t Fall Asleep to This Tour in Brooklyn felt like a reminder that even in transience, we can find moments of place—connection in the distance, and dance in the emotional. Art and intention create rooms that could make anywhere feel like somewhere.
