I used to have a personal mantra about walking. A couple of miles a day minimum, every day, until the old legs started to give up on me and I became a music reviewer.
No trouble for Ida Wenøe though, a much younger and fitter person, whose own ‘Walking Mantra’ is, as she says, “…a challenge to that awful sensation of physical, mental and emotional paralysis, where you feel so ‘stuck’ that even the smallest thing seems like a mountain to climb.”
Hm. Tell me about it.
She goes on. “It’s a reminder to be gentle, to do something without any special purpose other than putting one foot in front of the other and simply walking. No set time, no set tempo, no set length. Walking as a meditation – a way to get out of your head and into your body again.”
Well, putting one foot in front of the other can be challenging these days Ida, but I’ll give it a go.
She both wrote and recorded the song in a couple of old summer houses on the North Sea coast of Denmark’s Jutland province, and the new songs she put together there see Ida return to the simple intimacy of her debut LP ‘Time of Ghosts’, (2015) with nature, wild water and the range of human emotion lyrically centre stage.
The Ida Wenøe I’ve grown used to came after that and I was taken by some of the gorgeous melodies she can produce.
But this back to basics approach is equally appealing. There’s something effortless about her delivery. It could easily be employed as part of a hypnotherapy course.
Not that it’s ever likely to happen but I couldn’t imagine Ida being supported by a synthesiser, or (Heaven forbid!) an electric guitar. No Judas’ here please.
The combination of her vocal tone, acoustic guitar and violin is just perfect. It’s what you hope might be waiting for you if you get to Heaven and St Peter throws open those gates.
More mundanely, this song is a shoo-in to back a TV advert for the Scottish Highlands & Islands or West of Ireland Tourist Board.
Ida starts a UK tour on 24th October (see below) with regular companion the Scottish artist Samantha Whates; the pair joining each other on stage to perform new arrangements of songs from their individual catalogues and collaborative EPs.
Ida has been working with Samantha on a new collaborative album, ‘Loopy & Esther’, which will be out on November 15th.
Meanwhile she plays a live session for the BBC 6 Music Riley & Coe show on Wednesday 23rd October.
Thurs 24th Oct The Hideaway Frome
Fri 25th Oct Boia Festival (Tabernacl) St Davids, Wales
Sat 26th Oct Fisherman’s Chapel Leigh on Sea
Sun 27th Oct Hair & Hound (Fell & Folk) Hastings
Tues 29th Oct Paper Dress Vintage London (album launch event)
Wed 30th Oct Cafe9 Sheffield
Thurs 31st Oct Chapel Arts Bath
Fri 1st Nov The Lost Ark Rhayader, Wales (*w/ The Gentle Good)
Sun 3rd Nov Acapela Studios Pentyrch, Wales (*w/ The Gentle Good)
Thurs 7th Nov Railway Inn Winchester
Fri 8th Nov Thimblemill Library Birmingham
Find her on:
Website: https://idawenoe.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/idawenoe
X/Twitter: https://x.com/idawenoe
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/idawenoe/
