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Album Review: Indigo Girls, "Despite Our Differences" (Hollywood)
The Indigo Girls ' new disc, "Despite Our Differences," is the Georgia duo's first for Hollywood Records. Together since the mid-'80s, Amy Ray and Emily Saliers create another fine folk album that features all their best assets: angelic harmonies, introspective lyrics and emotional, evocative melodies.
But there's more to "Despite Our Differences" than first meets the ear. The disc includes a guest shot by Pink on the bawdy "Rock N Roll Heaven's Gate," an electric rocker that showcases Ray's edgier guitar work. Opener "Pendulum Swinger" is as topical as the ladies get here, singing, "What we get from your war walk/The ticker of the nation breaking down like a bad clock/I want the pendulum to swing again/So that all your mighty mandate was just spitting in the wind." They never revisit the current state of affairs again. Instead, they focus on matters of the heart and soul.
Ultimately, it is their remarkable songwriting sense that ensures the Girls' music will always be relevant. "Three County Highway" is an emotional, mournful ballad with great lines like "Baby, that's the last ticket I'm ever gonna buy." The James Taylor-esque road song "I Believe in Love" is not nearly as cheesy as its name implies; rather Saliers infuses each phrase with undeniable sincerity, making lines like "I want to say that underneath it all/You're still my friend/And the way that I fell for you/I'll never fall again" sound like the most honest thing one person can say to another.
Listen closely to "Despite Our Differences" and you’ll get goose bumps. New label. Same Indigo Girls.
