by Michelle Thomas

When the Indigo Girls (Amy Ray and
Emily Saliers) hit paydirt in 1989 with their
self-titled major-label debut album after
years of playing clubs in their native Geor-
gia, their success was attributed to the out-
break of women singer/songwriters such as
Suzanne Vega and Tracy Chapman. How-
ever, the Indigo Girls don't have the overt
political bent of musicians like Chapman
nor the abstract appeal of others like Vega.
Their messages are a bit more subtle, a bit
more personal.

The Indigo Girls’ first album, Strange
Fire, (which was recently re-released on
the major label Epic), dealt mostly with
spirituality and the search for meaning in
life. Songs such as "Strange Fire" and "Hey
Jesus" were almost prayerful in their sense
of urgency to fill voids within themselves.

The recentlndigo Girls album covered
more of the same territory. Their first big
hit, "Closer to Fine," described a search for
identity, as did "Kid Fears." Pleas to lost
loves were sung in "Blood and Fire" and
"Tried to be True."

Queer Nation (from page 16)
assumes me to be straight, she or he needs
to be corrected. But alas, everybody's
Queer friend can I not be.

I'm baffled. I'm overwhelmed. Icannot
be the same thing to everyone. If I'm too
conciliatory, I get flack. If I'm too extreme,
Iget flack. I used to be able to deal with it.
Way back before I reached out into the
world of gay activism, I was always right.
I was an extremist who would do every-
thing short of getting arrested. I was naive.
I was idealistic. I was having fantasies
about what I'd do in a world that I hadn't
even seen yet. Dream on, young
muthafucker...

Lend me your Quears

And so here I am. Waltham, Massa-
chusetts. October break. Once again, I'm
exiled from my home country. Upon my
return. my people will flood into the streets
and we'll have a Queer Nation.

But because no one can agree with
anyone any more, it'll be a nation of one.
And I'll look down the street to see the
23,999,999 other nations flying their flags
of shame or pride, hatred or forgiveness.
And, as always, I'll hold my head in my
hands and wonder why.

Th Indigo irls

It was their emphasis on the down side
of life that prompted Rolling Stone maga-
zine to complain about the “negative out-
look" of their songs. However, the Indigo
Girls’ most recent effort, Nomads, Indians,
Saints, shows a tendency toward a more
global approach on their part and is almost
optimistic in the way it portrays their lives
and their own relation to the rest of the
world.

The first song on the album, which has
been getting a lot of airplay recently in this
area, is "Hammer and Nail," in which the
Girls sing "Now I know a refuge never
grows/from a chin in a hand in a thoughtful
pose/got to tend the earth if you want a
rose." Or this from "World Facesz" "This
world faces on me with hopes of immortal-
ity/Everywhere I turn all the beauty just
keeps shaking me/I woke up in the middle
of a dream, scared the world was too much
for me/Sjarez said, 'Don't let go, just plant
the seeds and let them grow.”

Even a loss of love has this ray of hope
in "Hand Me Downs," where they sing
"Give me hope that emptiness brings full-
ness and loss of love brings wholeness to us
all."

 

  

December 1990

  
 

This optimism is tempered in typical
Indigo Girls fashion. "Hammer and Nail"
has an answer song on the album in "Girl
with the Weight of the World in her
Hands," which is about a girl who seems
less concerned about her own life than that
of everyone else: "But if things didn't get
any harder/she might miss her chance to go
a consecrated martyr." "123" is a call to
arms of sorts, one of their trademark songs
of urgency: "Here's a chance to make a F
choice; are you aware of the fire beneath
your feet?"

Another thing typical about this album
is the excellent production. Their first al-
bum was pretty much Amy and Emily and
their guitars. For Indigo Girls, a band was
added which featured a few friends from
REM and Hothouse Flowers. But even with
higher production values, the intimacy the
Indigo Girls have with audience is not lost.

The same can be said for Nomads,
Indians, Saints. The power of their songs
and the virtuosity of their singing and play-
ing overshadows anything else. The Indigo
Girls have something to say to us, and
nothing will prevent them from completely
baring their souls in song.

 

$5.00 (U.S.$)

GOLDEN THREADS

a contact publication for lesbians
over 50 and women who love
older women.

Canada and U.S. Confidential, warm, reli-
able. For free information send seIf-ad-
dressed envelope; (U.S. residents please
stamp it). Sample copy mailed discreetly.

P.O. Box 3177, Burlington, VT 05401

  

Green Mountain
Feminist Counseling Service

 

Carol E. Cohen M.S.W.

' Life and Career Crises
- Substance Abuse

-Troubled Relationships
-Lesbian and Gay Positive

- Sliding Fee
Individuals, Couples. Groups
Burlington, 864-5595

17