Addicted to Ida - The first three times I heard this album, it didn t sound like much. Now I m addicted to this band. (So, Ida, if you re reading this, thanks for playing the Knitting Factory on New Year s Eve.) What makes this CD unusual and sublime is that all the songs maintain about the same intensity and tone, and all the instruments are blended together at equal volume, so the effect is kind of like the continuous hiss of a winding metal tape or perhaps the seamless flow of the river in the title. This is not rock music, although the band is indie. It s also hilarious and impressive that Karla Schickele sometimes sounds like Karen Carpenter.
This is good writing and good listening - I feel a bit sorry for the group, considering some of the bizarre and unjustified reviews herein but let me say these guys make good music and are above average musicians. Some of the writing is ingenious, such as What Can I Do? which uses very sparse accompanment to great affect and a bit of odd turn in the melody that actually fits the lyrics instead of just plodding along in time. Speaking as a musician, I give them respect, all else is taste and theirs is pretty good.
By Imaginary Correspondent Joe - Up near the Strait of Juan de Fuca, about an hour ferry-ride from Anacortes, sits Orcas Island, the second-biggest in the San Juans. Orcas is shaped very much like a downward facing horseshoe, which could be termed unlucky, but if you flip a map over, then everything is okay. Along the western leg of the horseshoe there is a road which curves about ten feet above Massacre Bay, a blue pearl of ocean resting, tucked within walls of brown and gray stone, green pine trees, small cottages merged with forests.Certain songs bring to memory this road, driving along it with the sun setting behind a mountain of pine trees as the water in the bay would become a deep indigo. I spent three summers on the island, and over those summers, certain songs and records came to be played over and over in the car, if for no reason but that there was no record store on the island. Sparklehorse s It s a Wonderful Life was all I had the summer of 2002, and Postal Service s Give Up typified the summer of 2003. Last summer I was on a Dylan kick, and every time I hear Johnny Cash and Bob do that duet on Girl from the North Country, I am instantly transported back to that narrow bayside road.It is nothing out of the ordinary for a sensory impulse, like hearing a certain record that always gets played in a certain environment, to trigger a memory of said environment. Pavlov s salivating dogs, for example, or every other experiment one has to learn about in intro to psych classes in college, explain this phenomenon. I remember it being the olfactory sense that had the strongest tie to memory, which is why the perfume/cologne industry does so well. I sat in the back of the auditorium, however, and was just taking the class to fulfill general education requirements. With a better effort, I might be able to remember more.I apologize for all the exposition and ego-centeredness in the opening to this review - it s just that it was quite a surprise when the new record by Brooklyn-based Ida took me immediately to that road on Orcas Island. I had never ever heard the record before, nor had I ever listened to any other Ida records on that road. Why, then, should I think of this road I hadn t driven on in more than half a year?Originally a trio formed in 1992, Ida has released numerous records over the past thirteen years of their existence, starting with the cassette, Songs from the Ranch, released independently in their native Brooklyn.In February of this year, however, their most recent effort, Heart Like a River, was released on Polyvinyl Records. Two of the founding members, Liz Mitchell (guitar, harmonium, vocals) and Daniel Littleton (guitar, vocals) have since added Jean Cook (violin), Ruth Keating (Drums), and Karla Schickele (bass, piano, vocals) to the line-up, and the results are a beautiful record incapable of harshness or sharp edges, but rather capable only of a sound full of harmony, delicacy and sincerity.Heart Like a River kicks off with the song Laurel Blues. A harmonium begins, providing the soft canvas for acoustic guitar and three-part harmonies. While it doesn t necessarily conjure direct comparisons to the music of Sparklehorse, Postal Service or Dylan and Cash, it has a similar emotion, a similar feeling to it - that same, semi-melancholic contentedness found in listening to Girl from the North Country is present. Laurel Blues is an invitation, an outstretched hand one wants to not only hold, but to understand.Many records are easy to fall in love with, but it is a rare occasion when a record will send intimations that the music may be in love with you. The third track on the album, which follows the simultaneously breaking and comforting 599, is Late Blues. Listening to Late Blues, I did not feel as though I were falling in love, rather I felt as though I were loved.Daniel Littleton and Liz Mitchell begin the song to the accompaniment of a plucked electric guitar and brushed snare drum. Their voices harmonize on the opening verse: If I get lost along the way to meet you/ If I m more than a little late/ If I get caught up in circles, chasing my own tale/ If I trip up and fail you/ If I let you down, if I let you down.The only song to which Late Blues draws comparison is Jeff Buckley s Everybody Here Wants You. Sexy and comforting, sentimental without being melodramatic, it is easily one of the most beautiful songs of the year.But let me not mislead you into thinking that the record is made up entirely of songs and does not exist well as a complete record. The tracks lead into one another in a logical progression achieved rarely, if at all, without a maturity a band like Ida achieves only after having played and lived together for so long. Put simply, Ida knows how to write, record and produce a record the way they want it done. Heart Like a River comes across as confident in its craft, and honed in its ability to affect the listener.Emotion is a funny thing. More often than not, a person has emotions towards something. (I hate Morissey s new record, I love the Smiths, I hate that I don t own Nirvana s box set, I love that I own every New Order album on vinyl, etc.) Rarely are there moments where one feels affected by something or someone before they feel for something or someone. Listening to Heart Like a River, I feel appreciated, comforted. For that, I appreciate this record. While by no stretch of the imagination is Heart Like a River on the same level of ingenuity as The Beatles Sgt. Peppers or The Clash s Sandinista!, but it is, put quite simply, a very good record. It reminds me of the ocean, of the island, of the certain color of blue only a sunset over trees can induce in the ocean.
Infinitely superior to Linda Ronstadt s HEART LIKE A WHEEL - Dan said: Then you asked me a question that I won t forget even if I spend my life trying to live up to what it means. If I let you down... You can probably guess what the question is.Dan also said: I know that I m not a poet. Cause I get too bored with the words. And that s when he really & truly speaks for me.I would be remiss were I not to complain about a dud track called THE DETAILS. Liz s voice can t redeem it. She s better than this. (I just caught Gary Giddins using that phrase in regard to Diana Krall & Jeanie Bryson, so I might as well co-indulge.) The only good detail about THE DETAILS is the brief wordless bridge, which sounds vaguely Pink-Floydian or Radioheadish. I also like the instrumental break in WHAT CAN I DO. Karla s descending piano phrase is her finest instrumental moment. But let me warn you about Karla in regard to the very last word that she sings in WHAT CAN I DO. She takes the word do and she gives it a very definite country-twang enunciation. It s Karla s way of ingratiating herself with Kenny Rogers and I don t particularly dig it one bit.FORGIVE is a bleary-dreary raga-drone that reminds me of nothing so much as George Harrison s BLUE JAY WAY. (And I mean that as a compliment.) My favorite track is (yes, you guessed it, Karla) HONEYSLIDE. You ve heard of inside jokes? HONEYSLIDE is an inside insult. It s Karla s way of rubbing my nose in the fact that Kenny Rogers is her boyfriend and I m not. Very funny, Karla. Have a wood-fired honey-sliding honeymoon, Karla. Just don t come crying to me when Kenny dumps you for Linda Ronstadt.
This is a good one - I am a prolific fan of Ida and have been since Will You Find Me, and I have to say that this album is the best to come out since that album. Every Ida album has its own sound to it, and this one is no different, it s genuinely Ida but with a twist. It s a bit louder than most of their albums all around, but doesn t really have any rock tracks like Turn Me On from Will You Find Me or Blizzard of 78 from the Braille Night. Laurel Blues, Honeyslide, and Mine are the highlights on this one. It s not as good as Will You Find Me, but it blows away The Braille Night.Once again, I tip my hat to Karla Scheckle.Now if we can open our minds, forget the fact that Ida has released albums in the past, and just listen to this one, we can understand why it deserves all five of the stars I gave it. It is wonderfully composed, transitioned, and is a great album to wind down a night with.