Emily Saliers and Amy Ray are the iconic Indigo Girls. Back in 2012 the GRAMMY-winning duo embarked on a bold new musical chapter, collaborating with a pair of orchestrators to prepare larger-than-life arrangements of their songs to perform with symphonies around the country. The Indigo Girls have a beautiful blend of folk, rock, and pop in their music and now with the power of the orchestra behind them, hints of classical elevate their songs to new emotional heights without sacrificing any of the emotional intimacy and honesty that have defined their music for decades. The duet has performed more than fifty performances with various symphonies across America, and now they are releasing a live album of them with a symphony, Indigo Girls Live with The University of Colorado Symphony Orchestra. The album was recorded in front of a sold-out audience in Boulder, CO, and beautifully mixed by GRAMMY-winner Trina Shoemaker (Sheryl Crow, Emmylou Harris). The project has twenty-two songs that showcase the Indigo Girls at their finest: raw, real, and revelatory. That’s the short of it!
Positives:
Both Ray and Saliers display strong singing and the orchestra allows for both to reach emotional tenderness to soaring grandeur.
Negatives:
Being a live recording there is less fidelity with Saliers’ voice than one would hope for, but her part is still there, and this is not a deal breaker!
Bottom Line:
Indigo Girls Live with The University of Colorado Symphony Orchestra is a compelling collection of twenty-two tunes that displays the power and skill of the Indigo Girls singing and songwriting. The 64-piece symphony orchestra never gets in the way of the delicate balance of the two vocalist intertwining harmonies. The orchestrations were done by Sean O’Loughlin and Stephen Barber and the set features a mix of reimagined classics, unexpected deep cuts, and tracks from Indigo Girls’ latest studio album, One Lost Day. The passion of both singers and the orchestra combine with the audience’s and it translates viscerally to the recording. Whether you have been following the Indigo Girls since their heyday in the 90s, or have just rediscovered them again, this is a very enjoyable set of live music.