Ida Maria - Fortress Round My Heart [Album]

Waterfall Records

March 20, 2009, 03:51 PM

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Before listening to Ida Maria’s debut album, the only thing I knew of her was the song ‘I like You So Much Better When You’re Naked’ which, incidentally, when I first heard it on Radio 1 in the summer of 2008, I hated. However, it turned out that Ida’s raspy, husky delivery of the lyrics made more of an impact on me than I’d expected.

On receipt of the album, ‘Fortress ‘Round My Heart’, I almost felt a little nervous – had I volunteered to review an album that would ultimately be fully of shouty singing, discordant guitars and heavy drumming? Nope. What I volunteered for, when reviewing Ida Maria’s album, Fortress ‘Round My Heart, was an unexpected musical journey – diverse and, at times, tender and wistful lyrics, regularly interjected with the sort of song that makes you want to dance madly.

Fortress ‘Round My Heart starts with the rousing ‘Oh My God’, which should sound familiar to anyone who’s had the pleasure of hearing Ida Maria’s sexy, dulcet tones.

In ‘Morning Light’, Ida echoes a sentiment that I’m sure many people will find close to their hearts – ‘What’s easy in the light, is always such a bite in the morning light’. Isn’t it just!

Track 3 on the album will forever hold special memories for me. ‘Queen of the World’ burst into my ears as I travelled on the Metro to my hotel during the first few hours of my virgin trip to Paris. Alone on the busy train, head held high, the lyrics were perfect – ‘I’m the queen of the world, I bump into things, I spin around in circles, and I’m singing’. Although lively and upbeat, the tempo belies the slightly more melancholic lyrics – ‘Whisky please, I need some whisky please, so bring me consciousness, and kill my innocence’.

The track that gave me the biggest shock was ‘Stella’. Based loosely on the ‘60s Motown hit ‘Jimmy Mac’, you can’t help but sing along. It’s a little like rock karaoke!

The tender but up-tempo ‘Forgive Me’ is forward by the ballad-like ‘Leave Me Let Me Go’. Slow and dreamy, with a crescendo building bridge, this track is sad and lonely, retrospective and haunting.

The next three tracks are a return to the underlying up-tempo rock style of the album, brought to a grinding halt by ‘Keep Me Warm’, another dark, slow track and the album ends with ‘We’re All Going to Hell’ – an odd title for a guitar-led Ida-style memoir of life.

My absolute favourite track is the penultimate one on the album – In The End. The chorus line – ‘And we’ll meet in the end, with wrinkles like the divas’, and Ida’s delivery of the entire song, shows a side of Ida Maria that you certainly don’t expect to see or hear on this album. It’s subtle, grown-up and shows a vulnerability in Ida that makes you wish there were another ten songs on the album.

Rock on Ida Maria. You have a new fan.

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