Ida @ Schubas 8/27/07

New York City’s Ida plays the sleepiest songs. It’s like being a child and waking up in a small town. You hear the morning owls. You smell breakfast cooking downstairs. And all the while, you have no adult responsibilities all day. You can simply linger and enjoy each moment, like if you had hours just to design some hopscotch blocks with chalk on a sidewalk.

Download: Ida - "Late Blues"

There’s something very subtle in those Ida lyrics even when they are melancholy. It’s a sense of a slow moving current approaching you. Typically a five piece band, made up partially of the married couple Daniel Littleton and Elizabeth Mitchell, Ida was missing a couple of members Monday night. (This was in part due to family commitments) The set was very soft and low key with the acoustic guitars and harmonium playing as well as the violin playing. It was clear that even without the other members, the audience really enjoyed a fulfilling set as Ida played many songs from throughout their career for over an hour and a half (Though it would have been nice to have some drums and pedal steel at certain points). In addition, they took many different audience requests, which means some diversions and different songs from the setlist below. Overall, it was a great night for fans to be close to a band who doesn’t tour too often with ten full length albums behind them and another one out soon. Hopefully, it won’t be too long before they are back with a full band and just as long of a set.