The Push of Men

If you want to get creative, sometimes you have to isolate yourself. At least that’s what the Seattle-based indie rock band Ivan & Alyosha did when creating their full-length debut, All the Times We Had.

“We demoed these songs in a cabin an hour north of Seattle where we could get away and have really bad phone service,” bassist Pete Wilson says with a laugh. “Once it stops being annoying that you can’t check Facebook, the isolation becomes nice. We need to detox every once in a while from all that.”

The process produced 11 tracks of notable variety. Sonically, they include forays into rock, dream pop and Americana, among others. And lyrically, they talk about everything from loving someone (“Easy to Love”) to overcoming struggles (“Falling”) to thinking about eternity (“Don’t Wanna Die Anymore”). Their first single, “Running for Cover,” is a response to questions posed in another musician’s songs.

“We’d been listening to a lot of David Bazan,” Wilson says. “He released a couple songs dealing with the fall of man and how we ended up being how we are now, with darkness and light in our lives. Did God have something to do with that? Did God push us when we fell into depravity? Those were his questions, and my answer was no; we pushed ourselves when we fell.”

But a difference in points of view does nothing to damper Wilson’s respect for other artists.

“I completely disagree with what some of my favorite bands write about,” Wilson says. “But they do it in such a compelling, artistic, honest way that I can’t deny they’re doing a great job.”

Ivan & Alyosha play with Tyler Fortier 9:30 pm Saturday, March 23, at Sam Bond’s; $8.