Those who preferred the
Indigo Girls' second, acoustic disc in 2009's double
Poseidon & the Bitter Bug will find themselves instantly comfortable with the material on
Beauty Queen Sister. The album represents a reunion of
Amy Ray and
Emily Saliers with producer
Peter Collins, who helmed
Swamp Ophelia and
Rites of Passage. Its musical meld of contemporary folk, country-ish sounds, and aching harmonies are the pair's trademark. "Share the Moon" starts things out with a gorgeous bassline by
Frank Swart and
Carol Isaacs' Wurlitzer and B-3 introducing
Ray's voice and
Luke Bulla's violin; they offer a heartbreaking love song, and the music and tempo never rise above a simmer because the grain of
Ray's voice carries the weight.
Ray also wrote the title track, which swaggers just a bit, with the pair playing electric guitars above the rhythm section (which includes drummer
Brady Blade) and the
Shadow Boxers' soulful, backing vocals, but moves back to the acoustic shimmer in
Saliers' beautiful "We Got to Feel It All."
The Indigo Girls' topical songs are, as usual, also present, though they aren't anthemic.
Saliers' environmentally conscious "John" and her sense of the present in the midst of social and political turmoil in "Feed and Water the Horses" are folk and roots country reflections, while
Ray's "War Rugs" offers a pronounced, folk-ish empathy for military women and men who've seen combat duty. The love songs stand out, too:
Saliers' "Gone," with its banjo and ringing upright piano, is an open road hymn to leaving busted love behind with lessons learned. Her skeletal "Birthday Song" is striking in its searing emotional revelations. The Cajun-styled shuffle, "Making Promises," is an ode to complexities in love and sobriety. The closest we get to an anthem is in
Ray's "Damo," a Celtic-tinged elegy for Ireland.
Saliers' "Able to Sing" is a catchy little folk-rocker with soaring choruses. Album-closer "Yoke" is another broken love song with a minimal, hypnotic
Bulla violin line that repeats throughout, like something from a
Philip Glass composition, but the song is so melodic, slow, and pathos-laden, it's among the most striking things here.
Beauty Queen Sister showcases the
Indigo Girls in top traditional form; their audience will no doubt delight in this, especially because the songs are expertly crafted and, as usual, intimate and honest to the point of discomfort. ~ Thom Jurek
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