Customer Reviews

Braille Night

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

For close to 10 years Ida have steadily put out record after record of unbelievable material. "Braille Night" is no exception. This album showcases some of the finest songwriting the band has ever seen, and in my opinion the songs flow more smoothly than "Will You Find Me". All these songs hold something incredible to them. Go out and buy it now.

I notice that a lot of Ida's fans are really into folk in general. That said, I come from a different standpoint. I like rock. My favorite bands are the Smashing Pumpkins, Stereolab, Pink Floyd, Beatles, Radiohead, etc.

So with that out of the way, Ida is up there in my top five bands as the lone folk group I listen to at all. And this album is...well, it's a great album, but it's probably their worst. It follows Will You Find Me, which is a really tough act to follow, and it's just kind of nudged in between that and Heart Like a River, which I found to be a giant step up from The Braille Night. But it is not a bad album at all; certain songs on it are among Ida's best, like "Arrowheads" and "Moves Through the Air." "Blizzard of '78" is the album's hardest track, and it's a good track, but it's nowhere even close to "Turn Me On," which was Will You Find Me's hardest track.

Aside from comparisons, if you like Ida, and this is the only CD on the shelf, it's a great buy. If any other Ida albums are present, go with whatever else there is (you'd be lucky to find any single Ida on a shelf).

The Braille Night is the fourth of Ida's albums i've bought, so i'm comparing it to Will You Find Me, Ten Small Paces, and Tales of Brave Ida. I would rank Braille Night a little bellow these other three (Will You Find Me is my favorite). I find that after listening to the Braille Night for a week it lacks the depth and different textures of their other albums, though it does have a certain "echoy" and spacious quality to it. Though the album is a little bit of a bore compared to other Ida albums there are some top notch Ida tunes here, including "Lets Go Walking" and "So Long". Overall this is a good album and if you're an Ida definately buy it because this is truly an "Ida" album as only they could create.

I have been a casual Ida fan for the last couple of years and have loved everything I've heard by them. I picked this one up not expecting much due to the other reviews on amazon. I expected a mediocre album. What I got was perhaps one of the finest albums of the band's career. The album's instrumental portions are AMAZING and the songwriting is some of their best. The song "So Long" is worth the 15 bucks alone, but honestly, this colection is priceless. If you are hesitant about buying this due to the previous reviews, I urge you to pick it up regardless. It might be the best album you buy all year.

Ida is something of a surprise for me. I bought this album knowing Dan Littleton from his work with Tara Jane O'Neil, and couldn't really guess that Ida delivers pure brilliance. Ida combine omnipresent pop-music idioms with folk-music approach and wrap all of that into post-rock atmosphere. I love the way the songs slide from one to another, love Ida's singing and love that melancholy they breathe. Can hardly wait to hear more of their music.

I'm a huge Ida fan, so it's pretty hard for me to write too many bad things about this album. The overall songs & sound are pretty much what you'd expect from Ida...the 3-part harmonies, layered guitars, stand up bass, keys, etc. Some of the ads said that this cd was supposed to be "darker" in sound but I don't think it's any darker than any of their other albums. It does feel a lot more like a "winter" album to me. I'd say that The Braille Night songs tend to sound a bit more like leftovers from Will You Find Me...there are a couple of shorter instrumentals, and a few other tracks that feel more like song segments than songs. But, there are a few all-time great Ida songs...Arrowheads is another excellent Karla song, So Long has a great guitar line running through it, and Blizzard of '78 picks up the pace quite a bit compared to the typical Ida song. Those three songs alone made it worth buying for me. I would definitely recommend this to Ida fans, and would suggest that anyone else pick up I Know About You or Will You Find Me before getting this one.

Ida's latest release "the braille night" is billed as "from the WILL YOU FIND ME sessions." At first I wondered if these songs were of the same caliber as the "Will You Find Me" tracks. My logic was if they didn't use these songs on the last album maybe they were not as good. To my surprise the songs on "the braille night" are in true Ida fashion with surreal vocal harmonies, soothing guitar riffs, and heart breaking emotion. Overall, "the braille night" is a continuation of what fans have come to expect from Ida. One downside to this release is the quality of the recording. "The braille night" lacks the polished sound that is found on "Will You Find Me." This is not a bad thing. Actually, the sound quality reminded me a lot of how "I Know About You," sounds. On the grander scale does the unpolished sound really matter on this latest release? In my opinion it does not harm the enjoyment of "the braille night." True Ida fans should have no problem fitting right in and enjoying this new release. For anyone who is looking into Ida for the first time I would suggest buying "Will You Find Me," or "I Know About You."

i had to have this cd.

i borrowed it from a friend, who was reluctant to lend it since she had only recently purchased it, and i didn't want to give it back to her. eventually i had to. and i soon found myself running out and buying it.

ida snuck up on me. but i love them.

i first heard ida in 1997. "little things" was on a mix tape i had received, and i loved that song so much i quickly checked out the rest of their repertoire. it was good, but i wasn't compelled to love them or anything. then i listened to it again, and i realized that it was great stuff. and the braille night is no exception. "so long" "blizzard of '78" and "so worn out" are the best songs on the braille night. don't miss them.

a friend described ida to me as "sit back and contemplate your life music" and i believe that is a wonderful description. listen to ida. love them. i, for one, have never loved so much as i do right now, listening to the braille night.