Ida Maria - Fortress Around My Heart
The first thing I’ve noticed about this album is the amount of screeching, wailing and other rather odd noises Ida Maria feels the need to include across these 12 songs; and although it might sound pretty ‘retro and fresh’ it just doesn’t sit right with me.
Ida Maria did make a bit of a splash last summer with I Like You So Much Better When You‘re Naked and her current hit Oh My God is on radio one at least three times a day at the moment, and so honestly, I’m a little tired of hearing Ida over and over again.
The first song I’d not previously heard was Morning Light which has all the makings of a great Indie hit… you can stamp your feet to it whilst pulling at your hair, touching your trilby, lifting the edge of your dress up as you bob around the dance floor. But for some reason, her weird little laugh and that awful sound like she has phlegm stuck to her vocal chords as she warbles; “No, no no†about 50 seconds in… it just doesn’t work for me.
Stella is the track that makes the most impact on me as it sounds like Ida is really speaking from the heart, but at the song comes to a close and she screeches ‘stellaaaaaaaa’ I can’t help but think that if she was ‘singing’ like that on karaoke, she’d just get laughed at. I guess if she’s got a record deal out of it though, there’s hope for those X Factor rejects yet!
I will say though, that In The End despite sounding rather depressing, is probably the best sdong on the album as Ida leaves that whole screaming / warbling / sounding like every other indie bird around at the moment attitude behind and manages to pull off one decent tune.
So yeah, the album is pretty emotive, and Ida Maria makes a pretty good job at sounding like a warbling alcoholic, 23-year-old Norwegian who smokes about 30 fags a day. But I'm told by my favourite Indie girl friend that that's 'the way to sound' at the moment.
Rating; 2/5 Skip To; In The End