Indigo Girls - Indigo Girls
I think this will be one of my favorite albums for a long time. I'm not sure if I can pin down the reason why, other than just my love for the band, since nothing seems to set it apart from the others significantly. I just know that I am filled with glee whenever I put it on.
It opens with a song tailor-made to soothe the nerves of an overthinker like myself. The next few songs are poetry rife with mysterious turns of phrase, quite fertile ground for an overthinker like myself. I am particularly enamored of Kid Fears, partly because of its ominously nostalgic imagery and partly due to the surprise vocal cameo by REM's Michael Stipe. I would not have expected him to fit so beautifully into an Indigo Girls song, but there he is in his familiar, slightly gravelly glory.
One that I used to love, then forgot about, and now love again is Prince of Darkness, a kind of anti-pessimism song that sees your dark and edgy ways and rejects them as... well, dark. In my life I dabble (often more than dabble) in things dreary and macabre - this music collection repeatedly shows that side of me. Yet I equally crave lightness, gentleness, and idealism. "My place is of the sun /this place is of the dark / I do not feel the romance / I do not catch the spark."
Yet there's not just rosy sunshine and happiness on this album. Blood and Fire is yet another angsty love song, and possibly among the angstiest of all, with stripped-down instrumentation and pain-filled vocals only Amy Ray can deliver. And in Secure Yourself, despite its overall idyllic outlook, it's difficult to escape the oblique allusions to death: "Secure yourself to heaven / hold on tight, the night has come."
Love's Recovery is a love song that has only become more meaningful and dear to me as I've gained love experience - particularly, as I've learned a little about what it takes to stay committed in a relationship that has gotten more challenging. "All our friends who think they're so together / they've all gone and left each other in the search for fairer weather / and we sit here in our storm and drink a toast / to the slim chance of love's recovery." The whole song is essentially an ode to sticking it out. Love songs may be a dime a dozen in the pop landscape, but commitment songs are gold.
Overall I find this to be one of the more cheerful and cheering of the albums I own. It's in subtle contrast with (and yet complimentary to) the next one I'll be reviewing.
Next: Come On Now Social
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