Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
Source	Rating
Metacritic	68/100
Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic
Billboard	(Favorable)
Blender
City Pages	(Mixed)
Exclaim!	(Favorable)
Launch.com
PopMatters
Resonance
Rolling Stone

Long Distance is the third studio album by American band Ivy. It was released on November 8, 2000 in Japan, while the US version was released on July 10, 2001 by Nettwerk. Noted as a departure from Ivy's previous studio album Apartment Life (1997), the album took influence from new wave, but maintained Ivy's signature blend of indie pop and indie rock music. Ivy collaborated with long-time producer Peter Nashel for two of the album's tracks, while the rest was completely produced and written by members Andy Chase and Adam Schlesinger.

Long Distance received positive reviews upon release, and is noted for its different new wave sound compared to Ivy's previous works, Apartment Life and Realistic (1995). Many critics favored Ivy's new approach, although some found it less interesting compared to the material on Apartment Life. Commercially, the album fared well in both Japan and the United States, but did not peak on any significant record chart.

Four singles were released from the album. "Lucy Doesn't Love You", "Disappointed" and "I Think of You" were all commercially unsuccessful, while the album's third single, "Edge of the Ocean", appeared in numerous films and television programs and is often considered the band's signature song. The songs "Undertow" and "Worry About You" were also used in media, and the latter was used as the theme song for the ABC miniseries Kingdom Hospital. Promotional music videos were created for both "Lucy Doesn't Love You" and "Edge of the Ocean".

Shortly after the release of Apartment Life (1997), Ivy began work on a new studio album; however, the band was dropped by their label, Epic Records, shortly after the reissue of Apartment Life was released. After the end of the contract with Epic, and lead singer Dominique Durand's pregnancy, the New York City studio where Ivy regularly recorded music burned down. In order to forget about these events, Ivy resumed recording sessions, where they began incorporating influences from new wave. Member Adam Schlesinger detailed the album's exploration of different genres:

...
Wikipedia