Indigo Girls' R&B dreams
By Christopher Toh, TODAY | Posted: 16 March 2009 1240 hrs

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SINGAPORE : Listening to the Indigo Girls’ latest album, "Poseidon and the Bitter Bug", you’re immediately struck by how similar it feels to their debut album "Strange Fire" (1987).

It’s almost like coming full circle, said Emily Saliers - who, together with Amy Ray, makes up the Indigo Girls - because this album is the first they’re releasing independently, on their own label IG Recordings, ever since "Strange Fire".

The two-disc album has band tracks on one disc and acoustic performances on the other, which was done in part to satisfy fans who wanted to hear both sides of the Girls.

And you’ll also get to hear their new album in full acoustic mode when the Girls perform at the Esplanade on Monday as part of the Mosaic Music Festival.

But, says Saliers over the phone from San Francisco, where they were about to start their promotional tour, if you’re a fan of their older stuff, they’ll be playing that, too. “I think we should honour that. We have a whole arsenal of instruments like mandolin, banjo, harmonica and classical guitar, so we try to mix that up. It’s a very organic show.”

Together Forever

Despite working together for 30 years (“and we’ve known each other since I was nine!”), the Girls haven’t gotten tired of each other. “If you’re in a good partnership like Amy and I are and have good management, it’s all going to work. Having done it for so long — and still loving it - is a good thing. You trust the process, each other and the music. It’s going to be good,” said the 45-year-old.

But that doesn’t mean they’re not still learning new things about each other. “I was doing an interview earlier this week and the journalist was asking me about a song that Amy wrote called "Second Time Around", about whether she wrote that about us and our experiences, and I was saying, ‘No, I’m quite sure that she doesn’t write about us’.

“And he said: ‘That’s funny, because Amy said she did’. And I asked her and she said ‘yes’. And I was like, after all these years, I had no clue!”

A key part of being the group is being independent of each other: Ray has released three indie solo records, while Saliers has her own restaurant and wrote a book with her dad ("A Song to Sing, A Life to Live"). “We do these separate projects that keep us satisfied as individuals, so when we come back together as the Indigo Girls, it’s very nice.”

R&B DREAMS

Saliers says her guilty pleasures include American football, red wine and rap music. “I love rap music. Old-school rap like Public Enemy. I love this new artiste called K’Naan. I’m very influenced by rap and R&B. On the latest record, er, there’s no rap, but there’s a song called "Digging for Your Dreams" - it’s very R&B-influenced.”

But no, they’re not going to put out a rap album just yet. “We’re not that foolish to think that just because you admire something, you’re able to do it.”

What they have done, however, remains close to their hearts, particularly their work with activist groups, including their own, Honor The Earth. “Very early on we started organising benefits for different causes and I don’t think we’d be anything else other than be activists. We’ve found a way to marry our music to that. It’s much more gratifying to put your music to good use. It’s part of our identity, even if it’s not perceived that way, it’s something that we all want to do for a long time.”

Right now though, it’s all about the new album. And no, they’re not worried about how big it’ll be. “I think there’s a lot more pressure like that on a band like U2 than us! I just laugh. I don’t know how many records we’re going to sell or how many tickets we can sell. I just know that after all these years, to be still excited about new songs, I really can’t ask for more at this point. I’m quite satisfied with where we are. And we get to come to Singapore, what can you ask for really?”

The Indigo Girls perform Monday night at the Esplanade Concert Hall, 7.30pm. Tickets from S$58 available at Sistic outlets. - TODAY/ar