Ida | Lovers Prayers
Polyvinyl Record Co
Review by Peter Aaron
Ida was formed in New York in 1992 by the core couple of Daniel Littleton and Elizabeth Mitchell (now husband and wife), but even as the band began to release album after critically praised album it was obvious the anomalous Gotham act wasn’t long for the city. Ida’s quiet, heart–on–the–sleeve music was simply too sensitive to weather forever the unforgiving environment that gave us Public Enemy and the Ramones—9/11 only sealed the deal. So in search of a little serenity and healthier surroundings for themselves and their young daughter, Littleton and Mitchell moved to Woodstock in 2004. And with the gorgeous Lovers Prayers, Ida’s seventh full–length release, comes a healthy reinvention in the band’s music. While Littleton and Mitchell’s familiar achingly hushed harmonies and the ensemble’s low–key instrumentation are still firmly intact, the move north has brought out the folksy rusticism long hidden just beneath the group’s artsy/indie-rock veneer. Recorded at Levon Helm Studio, this music has a looser, more down–home, acoustic–dominated feel and a roots consciousness found in abundance on Mitchell’s acclaimed 2006 solo disc, You Are My Little Bird (Smithsonian Folkways), but far less in evidence on Ida’s previous records (see the fine, lazy version of the traditional “Worried Mind Blues”). In fact, there’s nary a softly strummed electric guitar or drums in sight until the final tracks, which include the loping, Littleton–sung “See the Stars.” Ah, see the stars: Besides breathing, that’s something else one can’t easily do in New York City. Lucky us: now we have Ida, too.
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