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| Emily Saliers and Amy Ray, collectively known as the Indigo Girls, celebrate 20 years as musical partners with a new record label and a subtle shift to a fresher, livelier sound. |
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HOME > SOVO SCENE > MUSIC
By: BO SHELL
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It’s been two years since Indigo Girls Amy Ray and Emily Saliers joined forces for a studio album. But for their 12th offering, “Despite Our Differences,” the two have seamlessly bridged the time lapse, coming together from their very busy and very separate lives as one forceful musical duo, still going strong after 20 years in the business.
Lucky Atlanta fans had the chance to hear some of the new tunes on Aug. 31 and Sept. 1, when Indigo Girls headlined back-to-back benefit nights at Eddie’s Attic. As a testament to their enduring popularity among hometown fans, the shows at the small Decatur venue sold out in roughly 16 minutes, according to owner Bob Ephlin.
The 13-track album, set for release Sept. 19, denotes a shift away from Indigo Girls’ tightly wound vocal stylings toward a more off-the-cuff feel, and away from their standard recording methods.
From their opening song “Pendulum Swinger,” to their first single “Little Perennials,” and their most traditionally Indigo track “Last Tears,” the album feels simpler, more open, even more in-your-face than previous efforts.
The sound is less produced, more raw, an effect that comes in part from the fact that the lesbian duo recorded most of the album live in one room, as opposed to working with separate tracks and combining them after they’re laid down.
Ray says the “freshness, the energy” of the album has to do in part with their trek to Santa Monica, where for the first time they recorded with producer Mitchell Froom, who’s worked previously with Paul McCartney, Sheryl Crow and Bonnie Raitt, alongside mixer David Boucher and new drummer Matt Chamberlain.
Also inspiring their sound, Ray says, was their punctuated time in the studio. Usually working over a period of three months, “Differences” was recorded in just four weeks.
“I think the time element of working fast was a big thing to me,” says Ray, who wrote six of the album’s tracks. “It made us not labor too much over decisions. For me, my feeling was just that it’s better that way sometimes because we don’t take so long, sometimes that takes the heart right out of it.”
HEART IS CERTAINLY NOT some-thing the Indigo Girls lack. Even through their hectic schedules, they collaborate before recording to arrange their separate songs and choose which ones make the final cut.
One of those tracks, “Rock And Roll Heaven’s Gate,” features singer Pink, who invited Ray and Saliers to perform on a track on her most recent album. Like many of the other tracks, “Heaven’s Gate” is driven by an up-tempo rock beat that’s very concert-friendly — and very Amy Ray.
Ray was the first of the pair to venture off for a solo career and insists that her solo work — albums “Stag” (2001) and “Prom” (2005), released on her own label, Daemon Records — only helps the duo when they join.
“What makes the music more magical is the partnership of it and that it melds into one voice,” Ray says. “In order to keep doing that, I need to have other things going just to bring in other flavors to my creativity … it gives me a chance to get my ya-yas out.”
Saliers says she’s been planning a solo album for at least at year, but has had trouble making the time to complete a solo effort, which she hopes will have a “head-bobbing vibe,” a shift away from the trademark Indigo feel.
CHANGES IN STUDIO personnel and recording styles are just a part of the behind-the-scenes differences the Girls faced this go-round of recording, as their last studio album as a pair, 2004’s “All That We Let In,” was their final obligation to Epic Records.
Ray and Saliers say leaving Epic, their label since 1988, was a mutual decision with the Sony Music subsidiary, because their contract was up and executives weren’t particularly interested in signing another agreement — perhaps struggling to figure out what they’d do with a very political, very queer pop folk duo.
“We just ran our course with them,” Saliers says. “We were with them a long time and there was no energy behind us from them. There were some empty promises and stuff, so there was a time for a change.”
Hollywood Records, a West Coast label parented by the Walt Disney Company, piqued the Girls’ interest, even with its ties to a family-oriented mega-company.
“We tried to go as indie as possible, but that was the hardest part, signing with an indie label owned by a huge corporation,” Saliers says. “Hollywood [Records] is packed with ...
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