One of the most original and innovative vocal duos to hit the music scene in the late 1980s, the Indigo Girls -- Emily Saliers and Amy Ray, will perform tonight at Leede Arena.
Though Ray and Saliers adopt two completely different approaches of composition and singing, their musical styles complement each other rather than create tension. The result is a musical landscape which has been described as a "mixture of light and dark, of frailty and fury."
They hardly ever collaborate while composing new material. While Ray often explores hidden fears, anger and death with her lyrics, Saliers is more intimate and concentrates on personal subjects.
In a 1992 interview with Pollstar magazine, Saliers said: "Everything that happens with us happens pretty naturally out of emotion or passion. We work together very well but we're very different people and have very different interests."
Their music is best described as a mixture of folk and pop, drawing heavily from personal experience. Ray's alto voice has a sense of urgency and anger, but is complemented well by Salier's softer soprano. "We write very differently, and we like to write in different environments," Ray said.
When they sing together, they bring together a collage of sounds, creating music that is as expressive in sound as it is in the experience it shares.
Their songs are serious emotional journeys, and their subjects range from the Holocaust to lost love and failed relationships. Their arrangements also reflect attention to detail and the infusion of emotional drama with intricately layered guitar and vocal parts.
The Indigo Girls made their recording debut in the summer of 1985 with the single "Crazy Game," issuing on their own Indigo label. "Indigo Girls," an EP album, was released in 1986 and included songs such as "Cold as Ice," "Lifeblood" and "Never Stop."
Their first full-length album "Strange Fire" got them the attention they needed from the music industry -- featuring songs such as "Blood And Fire," "Land of Canaan" and "Left Me a Fool."
After signing with Epic Records in 1988, the Indigo Girls have produced three albums which have won them critical acclaim, and one of them, "Rites of Passage" continutes to be a classic in acoustic music.
In 1989, their single "Closer to Fine" entered the Billboard charts at #52, peaked at #22, and stayed on the charts for 35 weeks.
With their latest Grammy-winning release, "Swamp Ophelia" (1994), the Indigo girls have found a niche as an acoustic duo in the music industry today. They have always remained low-key, garnering recognition more through word of mouth than mass media. "Swamp Ophelia" is perfect example of this, as it was a Top 10 record before radio stations even noticed it.
Tonight's sold out concert will mostly feature material drawn from their most recent album, but it will also include some of their older songs which have gradually become classics.
With a full band joining them, the Indigo Girls will bring the most interesting and energetic part of their music, the live performance, to the Dartmouth community.
