All My CDs, pt 60: Beauty Queen Sister

Beauty Queen Sister - Indigo Girls

1200 Curfews was the first Indigo Girls album I got, and this was the most recent, entering my collection about a year ago and almost as an afterthought. I’d received an offer of free music downloads from a site that does that sort of thing, and though I prefer to buy physical CDs wherever possible, I’m also not immune to the lure of free music. Unfortunately the site’s selection was very skewed toward contemporary pop artists that I have never found all that compelling. This was the only album they had by the Indigo Girls, probably because it’s their most recently released one.

And it’s a great one. Despite much of it not being very good running music, the whole of it ended up on my marathon running playlist a few months later, mostly on the strength of a few very persuasive favorite tracks. Mostly, though, it’s an album that gets me lost in thought, echoing the ideas and feelings that happened to be salient in my life at the time. Birthday Song never fails to get me feeling sentimental about a certain person, and Feed and Water the Horses reminds me of someone else entirely. Making Promises reminds me of myself, especially the looping refrain at the end:

I couldn’t keep myself
from making promises
I couldn’t keep myself
from making promises
I couldn’t keep

What strikes me most about this album is how consistently the duo has kept their distinct style over the decades of their career, developing yes but not losing their roots. This is never more evident than when they take on recent world political events in songs like War Rugs:

Young Egypt seized the moment
and brought that bastard down
you’ve got technology
and you’ve got archaeology
we treated you like punters
until you kicked the goal
now we’re claiming you for our team
‘cause what do we know?

Folk rock is still the voice of political dissent and protest, even after all these years.

From plain-as-day statements to beautifully mysterious poetry, the album ends with Yoke, a song I’ve listened to over and over and cannot for the life of me understand. Its words compell me as much as the haunting violin accompaniment, but continually elude my conscious comprehension. I hope that there never comes a time when I understand all the music I love. But that does not keep me from trying from time to time.

Next: Swamp Ophelia