Disco de Indigo Girls: “Despite Our Differences”

Let's get it out of the way right now. As artists, the gay activist duo can be hard for some folk to swallow. Their most loyal fanbase, if you've ever been to a live show, is largely made up of women of the same conviction. Don't be too quick to stereotype, though. As a white protestant straight male with a wife and a kid, i report that this latest album by the Indigo Girls is as approachable yet subtly addictive as any Indigo Girls album's ever been.

Amy and Emily,both in their prime, crank out song after song of harmonic genius. Emily continues to merge what she refers to as the secular with the sacred, with such lyrics as "But you can't keep a spirit down that wants to get up again/ If we're a drop in the bucket/ With just enough science to keep from saying f*ck it/ Until the last drop of sun burns its sweet light/ Plenty revolutions left until we get this thing right" . Amy paints what may be the most vivid and burning image of the unexpected turn taken by a neighborly relationship in "Dirt and Dead Ends", "It's been you and me on this frontier/trying not to be suburban pioneers./Fighting off the pavers and the associations,/and the covenants against the trailers."

Despite Our Differences has only been available for a day now, but i've already gotten enough mileage out of the tracks to know that it'll be at the top of my playlist for a long, long time. There's plenty here to get lost in, and, as always, the Indigo Girls have offered up a setlist of songs that transcend the latest fads in the music industry. Do yourself a favor and check out Despite Our Differences.

Hard to believe but the Indigo Girls (Emily Saliers and Amy Ray) have been around for 20 years now. In their most recent albums it sounded to me like the Girls had lost inspiration. Maybe sensing the same, after 2004's disappointing "All That We Let In', the Girls switched record labels, and this is their first album on their new label (Hollywood).

On "Despite Our Differences" (13 tracks, 48 min.), the Indigo Girls sounds reinvigerated, with catchy and memorable songs, their best collection in years. On the album Emily and Amy each take turn providing a song(7 songs for Emily, 6 for Amy), although generally speaking Emily provides the more laid-back tunes, while Amy tends to rock a little harder. I personaly prefer Emily's songs, but that's not to say that Amy is "not good". My favorite tracks on the album include "Pendulum Swinger", "Rock and Roll Heaven's Gate" (which features Pink on vocals), "All the Way", and, in my opinion the best track on here "I Believe in Love", a bittersweet look back at a relationship, with the aching chorus:

"I want to say that underneath it all you are my friend

And the way the I fell for you I'll never fall that way again

I still believe despite our differences that what we have's enough

I believe in you and I believe in love"

"Despite Our Differences" is easily the Indigo Girls' best album in the last 10 years, and despite lingering a bit toward the end (1 or 2 songs shorter would've made this album even better), this is highly recommended.

The harmony is still perfection; the music is stripped down, harking back to the CDs they made before "Become You" and "All That We Let It". The lyrics, you can get lost in. The contrast between the seven songs of Emily and the six songs of Amy form a smooth counterpoint in the aptly named, latest CD from the Indigo Girls, "Despite Our Differences".

With a new producer and a new label, it seems as though IG has shaken off the doldrums that populated their last effort, when they replaced strong songwriting with lots of instrumentation. They use a variety of guitars here, mostly acoustic, but with electrics, slide and mandolin counterpoints. (No banjo, more's the pity.) Their back up musicians are solid and sparse. Pink appears on one song, and although her appearance and the rocker quality of the song made waves when the CD first appeared, the song "Rock and Roll Heaven's Gate" is an anthem about the music business, and, while clever and tuneful, fades away in the power of the other songs.

I normally gravitate towards Emily's songs, and here she is the sad balladeer of love lost, for the most part. She writes the opening song, "Pendulum", which is the most political ("the ticker of the nation breaking down like a bad clock") of the songs here. As in all Emily's political statements, she blends the political and the spiritual; it's a woman's power song, and lyrically stirring. My favorite of her songs on this CD is also one of those songs I can't let go of. It's entitled

"Run". In this song, Emily is relegating herself to the role of one of many lovers who've been left by someone who becomes fearful of giving too much in a relationship:

...."And you run, that's all you've ever done

It's all you know to do

I can't hold that against you.

And you'll flee, you're born to be free

And if you go, I'll understand

But you better get out while you can."

Her lyrics are as intense and as fiery in "All the Way", and her "Last Tears" and "I Believe in Love" are equally beautiful in the combination of lyrics and music. Only "Fly", with its metaphors about birds, is a weak contribution in her portion of the CD.

Amy Ray surprises with a rhythmic "Little Perennials", my favorite of her songs on this CD and the tune that keeps coming to mind whenever I look to find the CD to play again. It's a bit nonsensical, and finds, uniquely, Emily doing the low harmony instead of the high. Amy's two "rural" songs are drawn from the land on which she lives, with "Dirt and Dead Ends" the most striking and "They Won't Have Me" describing how little she fits into the rural southern landscape, despite her good intentions.

"Three County Highway" describes just about every little town I've been in and it's a love song, a little different than what Ray usually writes about.

Musically, "Despite Our Differences" is a great blend of two musicians coming together and blending their differences in a collaboration that weaves back and forth. Lyrically, it is outstanding. As usual, it gets more frequent play than anything else I've purchased in the last 6 months in my car. It's good road music, it's articulate, it's everything I buy an IG collaboration for.

I hope you listen and enjoy.

I've been a follower of the Indigo Girls since their debut and this album is now one of my favorites. I don't know what it is that makes it so much better than their other recent albums (I have them all). Perhaps it's the production by Mitchell Froom? Perhaps it's the pronounced balance of Emily's more pop inclinations with Amy's darker, more Southern Rock? Whatever it is, it's very good and highly recommended.

I just hope that this album doesn't get passed over. It's not getting the same degree of airplay as did singles from their other albums when they were signed with the major label Epic. In particular, Pendulum Swinger should be getting tons of airplay--very classic Indigo Girls sign-along--but alas, nothing. So I guess we all need to make sure we play it for all our friends to hear!

I've been following the Indigo Girls for almost 20 years. As a whole it is some of the best musicianship and songwriting out there. While they have strayed away from their acoustic sing-along harmonies a few times in the past, this album is a return to their finest form. Amy and Emily are a perfect compliment to each other, and it is never more noticeable than it is on this album.