Fortress Round My Heart

Ida Maria

Product Details

• Audio CD (April 14, 2009)
• Original Release Date: July 29, 2008
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Mercury Records
• ASIN: B001V7UXB2
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 3.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (51 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #4,593 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

Track Listings

1. Oh My God

2. Morning Light

3. I Like You So Much Better When You're Naked

4. Stella

5. Keep Me Warm

6. Forgive Me

7. Queen Of The World

8. Louie

9. Drive Away My Heart

10. In The End

Editorial Reviews

Time

"This 24 year old Norwegian has a powerhouse voice.... Ida Maria turns her lyrics into epic drama."

Product Description

Born and raised in the icy Norwegian stillness of the Arctic Circle, Ida Maria brought a new cool to the top of the pops when her first single release in the UK, "I Like You So Much Better When You're Naked" hit #13 on the national chart and sent her debut album, FORTRESS ROUND MY HEART straight inside the Top 40.

FORTRESS ROUND MY HEART - which drew 4 star UK reviews in Q magazine and The Guardian - has now been signed to Mercury Records, and will be distributed by Fontana in a close collaboration with a March 24th digital release. "I Like You So Much Better When You're Naked" was officially released as a digital single in the U.S. earlier this week (on February 24th). Ida Maria's song "Oh My God" will be used in all the Gossip Girl promos for this season. Originally airing 2/23, the promos will continue for months ahead!

On the heels of her 30-show, sold-out headlining UK tour in November, four critically acclaimed showcases in Los Angeles and New York, and NME's prestigious Shockwaves Awards show earlier this month - Ida Maria and her band (Stefan Törnby on lead guitar, bassist Johannes Lindberg, drummer Olle Lundin) will play their first U.S. tour in March. Kickoff is the South By Southwest (SXSW) Music and Media Confer­ence in Austin, Texas, March 18-22. Dates will continue in New Orleans, Atlanta, Washington DC, West Chester (PA), Brooklyn, Manhattan, and Boston. Ida Maria will return to the U.S. for a performance at the Coachella Festival in California on April 18th.

24-year old Ida (pronounced ee-dah) Maria grew up in Nesna, Norway, a university town of fewer than 2000 people north of the 66th latitude. When she moved to the great city of Bergen as a teen, she rubbed shoulders with everyone from metal bands to avant garde jazz musicians and bluegrass singer-songwriters. There she "discovered the inner beast that was hiding in my vocal chords." At the same time, she developed into a formidable songwriter, informed by a benign variant of synaesthesia, a rare condition in which perception in one sense mode arouses imagery from another, so that one can see sounds or hear colors, for example.

Following the success of "I Like You So Much Better When You're Naked," "Oh My God" was issued as a new single, and earned a 4 star review from RollingStone.com. Time magazine placed the song at # 3 on their "Top Ten List of Everything in 2008," praising her "powerhouse voice - deep, commanding, a little masculine, exotic, too, like Nico, but with an abundance rather than an absence of feeling."

See all Editorial Reviews

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A very promising debut., April 14, 2009

By	power (London, UK) - See all my reviews

It's the debut album from soon to be superstar Ida Maria Sivertsen, the 24-year-old Norwegian singer-songwriter, now based in Stockholm, who writes, composes and produces all her own work.
This is the American release, but the album was published last year in Europe.
Ida Maria found fame in the UK on the British TV show "Later...with Jools Holland" and with her massive single "I Like You So Much Better When You're Naked".
"A spunky and captivating debut: there's nothing about this album that doesn't make us want to leap about with a wide grin." - Talia Kraines
"The music by her Norwegian band is Anglophile in the worst way; bouncy pop-punk that finds little of the excitement she desires. 'See Me Through', in which she fears the existence of God, swerves into more interesting vulnerability, which in a year or so she may be ready to explore." - Nick Hasted
She doesn't sound like anything else out there, maybe a little bit like Björk.
She describes the tracks of her debut album "Oh My God", "Queen of the World" and "I Like You So Much Better When You're Naked" as "stories about me, my friends, messed-up relationships, sleeping on couches, running out of friends, drunk nights, high flights...and , of course, about Stella"
These three-minute, punk-pop songs are strong enough to enable her to operate without a safety net.
It's an enjoyable album and one which shows definite potential.
The album is rather short and includes ten fast-paced, fun songs. It doesn't give you time to disappoint, and leaves you breathless, wanting so much more.
At least she's not going along the boring route of trying to mimic Carly Simon or Dusty Springfield a la Adele and Duffy. And hopefully because of that she'll get more success across a broader spectrum of audiences.
Clocking in at just over a slender 30 minutes in total, "Fortress Around My Heart" is a rollicking, high-energy ride through the life of Ida.
"Oh My God" opens the album with a subtle verse before raging into a foot-stomping punky chorus, while the cute girl group-ish "Louie" giggles with drunken love. Slowing down only for the twinkly "See Me Through" and "Keep Me Warm", an ode to 'nicotine and coffee' that's already popped up a "Grey's Anatomy" finale, it's one turbulent frenzy after another.
The mighty "Stella" is probably the stand-out track, telling the tale of a prostitute in New York, and slyly borrowing the hook from Martha & The Vandellas' "Jimmy Mack".
With songs like these, she is happily making her own path in the world.
Little Dreamer
Rockferry
19

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars What a voice!, August 26, 2009

By	Benjamin (Chicago, IL USA) - See all my reviews

(What's this?)

The voice of Ida Maria stands on its own. The music might not be the best, but again, this woman can sing and overall this is a good CD.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Ida Ida Ida, July 22, 2009

By	Chris Damon "Classic TV Guy" (New Jersey) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

(What's this?)

I first saw Ida Maria on March 30, 2009 at Webster Hall in New York City when she/they opened for Glasvegas. I knew nothing about her then, but I liked what I heard and got the CD "Fortress Around My Heart". After a little research I found out she was from Norway (she had a foreign accent at the show - and cursed quite frequently! For some reason when someone with a foreign accent curses it seems to soften the impact quite a lot.)

Just a trivial note, the U.S. cover art differs from the European cover art, but the songs remain the same.

Her First song, "Oh My God" starts out with her singing "Thank You For My Life" then breaks into a rocking chorus of "Oh My God Oh You Think I'm In Control" which for your own sake you better hope she is, the way she is carrying on with a minimal yet substantial angst. This song is a good opener, I guess foreshadowing some of what's to come.

"Morning Light" is a nice indie-pop song, witch catchy hooks and just a hint of anger, especially wen she sings "...and you've got a polished mask, Yeah it looks like s**t". I think this song refers to waking up with someone after a night of heavy drinking.


Ida's "hit" single off of "Fortress Round My Heart" has got to be "I Like You So Much Better When You're Naked". Heck, I'm sure I'd like her better too when she's naked, she's not bad looking. This is a good song, but I'm usually one that likes some of the other songs on an album better than the singles, but you know this song is BIG in the clubs and I'm sure after a few beers I'd be really into this song.

"Stella" is very MOR and will probably appear on some soft rock playlists, not a very substantial track, but I wouldn't turn it off either.

"Keep Me Warm" is a ballad where she doesn't "wanna play any theatre for you, I don't wanna stage a single piece for you", She just wants you to keep her warm! This song I would skip if I were downloading, there's not really much to it.

The next song, "Forgive Me" picks it up a little. It's about a mistaken love affair with "cold cold kisses" and being kept like an "old sofa you found in a second-hand store". Ouch! She finally realizes she's not wanted and asks for forgiveness "For running down your door ...I Promise I won't do that anymore, I promise I won't do that anymore." This is a good song, her voice cracks as she screams a lot throughout the track. Download this one.

"Queen Of The World" is ok, I like the drum beats, then it speeds up at the chorus with some catchy parts before it settles down back to the drum beats and repeats the chorus again. It's a happier song than most on the album. You can bob your head to this one.

"Louie" is another head bopper, indie poppy song that is happier than "Queen of The World". I really like this one a lot. She just wants to know if he has room for her. I like the lyric "Oh, nobody know, why some are born, with empty holes, like twisted souls". I would download this one too.

I didn't like the way "Drive Away My Heart" began, but it got better, and now, I'm not so into it. Ida's voice is very droney in this track and lagging. She reminds me a little of Stevie Nicks here, a person whose vocals I'm not too fond of. Skip if downloading, unless you like that kind of stuff.

The finally track, "In The End" is another ballad which you can probably skip if you are downloading, it is just "fill".

Overall, Ida Maria's "Fortress `Round' My Heart" is rather mediocre. I was seriously expecting more. She is better live than in the studio, plus I had a few beers at the show, which may have made her seem better than I thought. If you are downloading tracks from this album I would choose: "Morning Light", "I Like You So Much Better When You're Naked", "Forgive Me", and "Louie".