In the fifteen or so years that I have been listening to Ida, my life has changed over and over again, switching coasts, jobs numerous times, and having kids. But on “Lovers Prayers,” the latest from Woodstock based husband and wife lead band, not much has changed. But I mean this in the best possible way. Ida has a sound so genuinely their own that I would be sad to hear it evolve into something else the way I sometimes wish most others would. Unlike Radiohead, or Yo La Tengo or The Flaming Lips who tend to set out in slightly different direction each time out playing with technology, keyboards or at least volume, Ida is all about vocal harmonies (think non-hippie, co-ed CS&N) and musical melodies led by quiet guitars, piano and brushed percussion that would just get lost in this modern digital age.
“Lovers Prayers” is basically a dreamy uncomplicated minor masterpiece. It is a record of little stories that seem to exist in a kind of timeless place somewhere between now and the late 60’s. As the title would suggest the songs all tend revolve around human emotion and observation, and always tend to have a kind of gentle urgency about them. This is a band who is aging so well, it hardly seems a day has passed.
