Indie-Pop
The fact that Perez Hilton has taken time out of his busy schedule of Britney-bashing to label Ida Maria, “our new obsession,” may seem something of a poisoned chalice, but Norway’s latest indie-pop export is not complaining. The re-release of her debut album Fortress ’round My Heart has clearly cornered the market in paunchy, malevolent celeb-bloggers, but on the strength of her high-energy, engagingly sincere debut album, hopefully Maria can set her sights on a better class of fan.
Recent singles 'Oh My God' and 'I Like You So Much Better When You’re Naked' posit Maria to be the rather talented daughter of the Ting Tings and Kaiser Chiefs, (it often skips a generation…) but these are only pop-reared Trojan horses, aimed at sneaking a credible indie album into her listeners’ playlists.
'Queen of the World' is a joyous anthem celebrating the blithe nihilism of youth, a culture that forgets yesterday and knows no tomorrow. This glorious stomp-rocker possesses an inherent ebullience that transcends age and gender; it will surely have cohorts of busy mums and University rugby teams spinning round in supermarkets and bars respectively, proclaiming that they are the queens of their own little worlds. 'Stella'’s hoarse chorus finds Maria doing her best Marlon Brando, screaming the song’s title at the top of B&H sponsored lungs; her husky, guttural vocal style set to a sunshine pop-rock backdrop has Maria sounding like Nico, if she had met Brian Wilson instead of Lou Reed.
Being a female singer-songwriter in the indie-pop mould, comparisons between Maria and Alanis Morissette are inevitable. However, whereas Morissette’s faux-poetic ranting about life’s big issues often alienate the majority of the population that aren’t single, bored and lonely young women, Fortress ’round My Heart’s simple adolescent lyrical themes have a curiously ubiquitous appeal to them, with anyone from 16 to 60 able to relate to Maria’s songs. (Now isn’t that ironic…?)
Ballads are Maria’s weak point, with both 'Leave Me, Let Me Go' and 'In the End' both dragging a little, yet they are cleverly interspersed amongst the up-tempo rock songs, so as not to bore the listener. Superb album finale 'We’re All Going To Hell' echoes Bright Eyes’ 'Laura Laurant', with Maria playing conductor to a rag-tag choir of friends, infectiously harmonising on the song’s title; never has eternal damnation sounded so much fun.
Fortress ’round My Heart will tap into the teen inside you, no matter what your age. The contagious ‘girl-indie’ tunes will stay in your head for days on end, yet unlike the barging intrusion of Kate Nash and Lily Allen’s bubble-gum tripe, Ida Maria’s songs will be a welcome guest.