An Evening With Iva

This interview, by Tony Mallett, first appeared in the printed edition of UP Front.

A former opera singer who's quite at home covering U2? It surely doesn't get odder than that. Well, to say that Iva is a bit of a 'one off' would be putting it mildly.

We get together around the table at a friend's flat - that friend is Nina who runs Havana, and we're joined by Nina's fella Manex, who just happens to be Iva's producer and manager. All very cosy as we sit around the large table supping beer, smoking cigs and shooting the shit.

Iva, it has to be said, is a long, long way away from being unattractive. She is, in fact, a babe. She also turns out to be petite, natural, friendly and blessed with a huge smile. She says 'hi' and I feel like I've just had very expensive melted chocolate poured all over me...

Later, listening to the eponymously named album, I'm surprised to find that Iva has written six of the eight tracks. I'm also surprised to learn that the first track Maybe This Time is written by none other than Bai Kamara Jnr, (that guy gets everywhere!) who also duets on the track. The third shock is the discovery that the CD also features a cover of U2's Where The Streets Have No Name. Now that takes balls! But more of that later...

Iva began as a singer at the tender age of nine on the opera stage and later pitched up at venues such as New York's Lincoln Center and the Aspen Music Festival. Yep, she's American, but her family originally crossed the Atlantic from Sweden (she's now based mostly in Stockholm after heading there on a Fulbright Grant, no less).

In 2002, Iva dived headfirst into the mainstream by singing during NBC's Late Night With Conan O'Brien show. With the broad range of her voice - and the dizzying heights it can reach - the girl decided to use it by writing her own songs. As she says: "I'm a huge fan of the Beatles, Sgt Pepper, and the way [producer] George Martin mixed classical sounds with pop. I love that and I want to make music that's sophisticated and beautiful."

At this point, Manex explains that he met Iva at the TV show's Christmas party and, soon after, they started working together. He makes a comparison to Bjork and I mumble something about 'Abba-esque' production values as the CD plays on, expecting to get shot down in flames. Not a bit of it. "Yes!" they both cry, as the pair are definite admirers of the Benny and Bjorn way, thank God. Manex then goes on to wax lyrical about Iva's vocal abilities: "There's not much she can't do with her voice," he says. By this point I don't need convincing and, popping another beer, I'm just waiting to hear how she tackles Bono's Streets...

To say I'm surprised would be putting it mildly. Iva's vocal phrasing is different from Bono's, so I immediately ditch preconceptions. The underlying beat of Streets... is something everyone who has heard the song will remember - it's relentless and, guess what, it's perfectly suited to a dancefloor track. Iva and Manex's finished mix is, in fact, a potential disco classic. Balls of steel indeed!

I let Manex describe the mixture of songs on the rest of the CD: "I like to call it 'organic-electro-operatic pop'. She uses operatic embellishments to enhance the pop style." He compares Iva's pop voice to Madonna and her operatic high notes to Mariah Carey. Fair enough, I reckon, with a bit of Sutric chanting thrown in!

Visit www.ivasound.com. CD out now.