Music Review

22 November 2008 10:17 BST

Ida Maria goes out with her mate Stella to the Camden Crawl

inthenews.co.uk's Lewis Bazley takes a look at Scandinavian chanteuse Ida Maria at the Camden Crawl 2008.

While the Crawl got off to a less-than-auspicious start after seemingly gale force winds played havoc with contact lenses as I braved the rush-hour bus to Camden, and the bewildering array of possible routes for the evening sowed myriad seeds of confusion, the arrival of Ida Maria set all right with the world.

She's got that bizarre brand of Scandinavian brouge that makes her sound as if she's Bjork having grown up in Sheffield, and when she asks if Camden's doing ok, there's only one answer.

And oh, when the singing starts, there's a Proustian madeleine moment and it feels like Grace Slick could be standing astride the Koko stage, mid-Jefferson Airplane gig.

There's also a disconcerting sense of watching Bikini Kill if they'd been fronted by Laura Marling. Excellent single Stella soars, but there's an inescapable thought that this song is perfectly suited for a 'running' montage in a quirky romcom. Which presumably wasn't the idea, though Ida's impassioned delivery saves the day.

Check out Ida Maria with Oh My God below: