Heart Like a River

It’s hard to imagine Ida existing in the urban chaos of New York City, since their smooth, austere sound reflects a zen-like calm and a pastoral beauty that suggests not clanging subways and claustrophobic buildings but soothing streams and wide open spaces. Their 2005 album, Heart Like a River, was the band’s first album in four years and continues where the gorgeous The Braille Night left off, with songs that tint just a gentler shade of blue. Ida begin within the instrumental framework of folk-rock — acoustic guitars, sweet harmonies — and venture forth from there, turning in slow, ambient tunes that suggest what new age music might sound like with punk roots. “599” ups the wattage considerably — and gives their drummer a chance to finally hit with momentum — but mostly the group works on a simmer, never allowing things to reach the boiling point. “Late Blues,” “Mine,” “Sundown,” the songs release themselves to the air almost subliminally, quietly creeping into the subconscious.