Saliers and bandmate Amy Ray have a long-standing tradition of not collaborating during the songwriting process; they write separately and then collaborate on arrangements. Ray has also found a solo venue for her music that doesn't quite fit as an Indigo Girls song. One track, "Driver Education," was previously recorded that way and released on Ray's second solo album, Prom. The Indigo Girls version is a bit more mellow, but for the most part it retains the sun-washed reminiscences that characterized the song in its first incarnation.
As I expected, for the most part, I prefer the acoustic version of Poseidon. Stripped of the things that so often distract from the melody and lyrics, I am better able to connect with the songs. For example, the laid-back R&B styling of the percussion and keyboard in the band version of "Digging For Your Dream" become the focus of the song, whereas the vocals (and by default, the message) take center stage in the acoustic version: "Every day that you get up will force your cards / Playing your story in fits and starts / Take your prospects and your pickaxe and you trudge down to the stream / Then you bloody your hands digging for your dream"
While Saliers may be drawing in more R&B and country flavors to her music, Ray is still firmly in the rock 'n roll world. For example, just one listen to her song "Let It Ring" (on the Prom album), and you will learn just how a mandolin can be turned into a punk instrument. I think it may be the chord progression, or possibly even elements of the melody, but something about one of Ray's songs on Poseidon ("True Romantic") keeps reminding me of "Creep" by Radiohead. Now that's a mashup I'm looking forward to hearing.
Poseidon and the Bitter Bug is the Indigo Girls first independent release since 1987's Strange Fire, and already it is heads and shoulders above the albums released in the last few years of their Sony/Epic contract. If this dual-release format finds a home in the hearts of other fans as it has in mine, I foresee many more such recordings in the future.
Article comments
1 - greg d
"I have come to accept that they will never make another album like those two." ... Oy .... Too many critics have prejudged this band. They've locked it and its sounds in their angst-ridden teenage past. But the Indigo Girls have grown up and their music and lyrics have matured. It is time for some listeners to get out those Q-Tips, clean out that self-absorbing nostalgic ear gunk, and listen anew to this wonderful album.
2 - Anna Creech
Greg: That's what I was trying to say there. Maybe I wasn't clear enough.
3 - greg d
Anna: I enjoyed your review. Your honest ambivalence regarding the development of the IG's music is refreshing but reminiscent of those who trembled at the notion of an electric Dylan. Pigeonholing and mail slotting makes life both easier and dreadfully dull. "Despite our Differences," I'm pretty sure we can agree on that.
4 - Anna Creech
Greg: I direct you to this sentence, which I hope will clarify that I am not trying to pidgeonhole the Indigo Girls' music, and I am interested in seeing where they take their music*: "As for me, I've learned to approach each new album as if it's not coming from the band that provided the soundtrack to my college years, but is instead some new creature as yet unknown to me."
*Provided, of course, that it doesn't suck. And honestly? Over the years, they have recorded quite a few arrangements that suck.
5 - David
Anna:
My wife also noticed the similarity between True Romantic and Creep. She played it for me and I started singing the Creep chorus too.
6 - Eric
Thanks for the review. One question, though. What were the comments that Emily made on stage that you refer to in your review? Perhaps you wrote about them earlier?? Thanks!
7 - Max Jennings
I don't think that your review is completely fair. While I do think that the Rites of Passage to Swamp Ophelia was an extraordinary period, I think that they equaled that output in their Become You to All That We Let In period. And while I do agree that Despite Our Differences was a little overproduced, it didn't change that the songs were among the strongest they've ever written. I think that PBB is a strong album. but then again the Indigo Girls don't make bad albums.
8 - matthew oliva
You know...very few "artists" today experiment and grow. Another word for that process is: work. That is what Indigo Girls do: they work. Despite lack ofradio, media etc. Cut them some slack. Jeez!
9 - Donna
Interesting review. And thank you for the Radiohead comparison ... I was killing myself trying to think of what song "True Romantic" reminded me.
I also try to approach each new IG album as though I've never heard anything of them before. Most albums are great! A couple have been stinkers ... but as for this one, I'm not so sure how I feel about it. The first time I listened, I hated it. But, the more I listen, the more I firmly believe that the songs are just out of order on the cd. It starts soooooo slooooowly and somberly. It almost sets you up to not like it. What if the CD started with "What Are You Like" instead? Then went to "Ghost of the Gang", etc.
Any thoughts?
10 - Spirals
I've been an IG fan ever since I first heard them in 1987. And learned early on to "...approach each new album as...some new creature as yet unknown to me."
The only thing I expect is to hear them harmonize - everything else is a road not yet taken.
There is always something new that they do - phrasing, not rhyming, note changes - that throws me off and after many listens, it's obvious that they have taught me a new way of hearing and believing it should always be that way.
There is something about True Romantic that pulls at my insides and wrenches my heart.
And I am amazed at Amy's vocals on the acoustic version of Sugar Tongue.
When I went to their in-store signing of Shaming of the Sun, I brought my copy of Swamp Ophelia, which, like you, is the album that defined the aftermath of my college years.
I don't expect every album to be perfect, I just expect it to be representative of their experience(s). And in that perfection occurs.
11 - Tom A
I thought your review nailed it. Like you, I listened to the tracks of "Poseidon" intently, yet hesitantly, like trying to make out the whisper of a friend from a distance. I've heard that whisper occassionally, on certain tracks and on certain albums in the last few years, but not the full-throated yell which so vividly caught my attention when I heard "Closer to Fine" for the first time. I was a junior in high school and that song, that record, began what was to be a three-album love affair that stretched through "Rites of Passage." I miss the sound of the old IG's, but appreciate the effort which has taken them to where they are now.