Ida Maria signs with Mercury Records

IDA MARIA SIGNED TO MERCURY RECORDS – FORTRESS ROUND MY HEART DEBUT ALBUM SET FOR MARCH 24th DIGITAL RELEASE. ALBUM DISTRIBUTION THROUGH FONTANA

“I LIKE YOU SO MUCH BETTER WHEN YOU’RE NAKED” BREAKOUT UK HIT SINGLE NOW ISSUED AS A DIGITAL TRACK IN U.S.

‘Norwegian force of nature’ schedules first U.S. tour in March – SXSW followed by shows in New Orleans, Atlanta, DC, Philly, New York, and Boston – and Coachella in April

“ ’Cause I like you so much better when you're naked
I like me so much better when you're naked
I like you so much better when you're naked
I like me so much better when you're naked!”

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¶ 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! Check it out at: http://cwtv.com/cw-video/gossip-girl/short/?play=425-5272

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. (Please see complete itinerary below.)

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¶ 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.” Audio of “I Like You So Much Better When You’re Naked,” “Oh My God,” “Keep Me Warm,” and “Stella” (as well as video clips of “I Like You So Much Better When You’re Naked” and “Oh My God”) can all be sampled on Ida Maria’s MySpace website, http://www.myspace.com/idamaria which boasts over 1.1 million profile views and more than 2.3 million total plays.


IDA MARIA U.S. TOUR

March 18 – 21 Austin , TX SXSW
23 New Orleans, LA The Parish
24 Atlanta, GA The Loft at Center Stage
26 Washington, DC Black Cat
27 West Chester, PA The Note
28 Brooklyn, NY Music Hall of Williamsburg
30 New York, NY Webster Hall
31 Boston, MA Paradise Rock Club
April 18 Indio, CA Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival