Ida Heart Like A River CD

Ida's 2005 album, HEART LIKE A RIVER, might make fans feel like voyeurs, with songs emanating an intimate sense of affection amongst band members. "I'm so lucky to be here/Just to have you near" sing the silken voices of husband-and-wife duo Daniel Littleton and Elizabeth Mitchell on "599." Their timbres blend together like colors in a sunset, recalling their friends Alan Sparhawk and Mimi Parker of Low.

Ida's ballads give no hint of the New York City environment in which they're composed. They are spacious and understated, supported by acoustic guitar, strings, and the gentle piano and bass of Karla Schickele. HEART LIKE A RIVER continues with the sound that Ida has been cultivating for over 10 years. Not very much has changed since the band's 1994 debut, TALES OF BRAVE IDA. But when all you need is each other, there's not much reason to want for anything else.

Recording information: Brooklyn Recording, Brooklyn, NY (08/2003-04/2004); Kimchee, Cambridge, MA (08/2003-04/2004); On Me Sound, Providence, RI (08/2003-04/2004).

Photographer: Melanie Holmes.

Ida: Daniel Littleton (vocals, guitar, viola, harmonium, organ, drums); Karla Schickele (vocals, piano, bass instrument, bells); Elizabeth Mitchell (Wurlitzer piano).

Personnel: Dan Littleton (vocals, guitar, viola, harmonium, organ, drums); Elizabeth Mitchell (vocals, guitar, accordion, harmonium, Wurlitzer organ); Karla Schickele (vocals, piano, bells); Jean Cook (violin); Cecilia Littleton (viola); Dominique Davison (cello); Luther Gray (clarinet, drums, percussion); Rick Lassiter, Andrew Hall (double bass).

Rolling Stone (No. 968, p.74) - 3 stars out of 5 - "[R]ainy-day folk songs pushed forward by harmonies that swirl like nagging memories..."
Entertainment Weekly (No. 809, p.73) - "[T]he soft-focused [album] drifts inward, inventorying a relationship's peccadilloes while pianos plunk and guitars sigh..." - Grade: A
Alternative Press (p.88) - 3 stars out of 5 - "In Ida, three singers interact in every imaginable way: When not overlapping, harmonizing or echoing, they stealthily shadow each other on HEART LIKE A RIVER..."
Magnet (p.98) - "[T]he album is still taut, brittle and fragile..."