Indigo - Dreams

Review by Karl Magi

Overall Album Impressions

Indigo’s “Dreams” is an emotional voyage through heartbreak, passion, loss and love. The lyrics are full of meaning and depth, capturing the shattered and conflicted emotions that can fill us. The painful moments are leavened with more hopeful words and Indigo delivers all of this in her delicate but forceful performances. The lyrics are crafted to drive home their message, while the musical background weaves together intriguing synth textures and tones. The end result is music that engages while leading me to contemplate life.

To anchor “Dreams”, we have Indigo’s vocal performance. Despite the breeziness of her sound, there are deeper waters within her voice. She can capture everything from intense aspiration to heartbreaking loss with that voice, carrying all of the feeling within it. I enjoy the way in which Indigo layers her voice on the album, the production creating richness and texture. Her performance takes hold of her songwriting and brings it to life with emotion and affecting feeling.

Another strong aspect of “Dreams” is Indigo’s songwriting. Her songs are deceptively simple, but after listening, one begins to understand that there’s more going on. The explorations of relationships and how they evolve are engaging and full of a rush of different moods and sensations. The way in which the lyrics move from something full of anticipation and dreaming to pain pulls me inward and carries me along. Each song is a small story of living life.

As for the production, Steve Wilcoxson weaves together sounds which gleam and dance, melodies that capture the essence of each song and a percussive underpinning that propels the music forward. There are nuances and sonic textures which permeate the music with further intensity and layering to create an album which is full of auditory magic that charms and pleases.

My Favourite Songs Analyzed

“Long Distance Runner” starts as celestial bells ring with pure light and a field of bass adds a supporting flow. Faraway vocals echo in choppy motion as the main melody exudes clarity. Indigo’s voice is full of breathy feeling, capturing the hurt and longing within the melody and lyrics.

The solid rhythm and subterranean foundation support the chorus, which slips through cloudy warmth with bereft emotion, touching me deeply with its expression. Continually twirling notes burst with a glassy sheen while the heavily punching underlayer keeps throbbing. Indigo's delivery blooms into wafting breezes and aching hearts as the bass and drums interlock in shaping motion and the song exhales into a quiet ending.

As the narrator keeps “the distance at bay so I can hold my own,” she stokes the fires in her heart so they won’t go cold, keeping herself apart because it’s all she knows, “with all the others at the start so I can go it alone.” She admits there’s “a darkness in my eyes,” asking if the song’s subject can see it too, confessing, “it’s the distance I despise.”

“With the light in our hearts, I can run,” she says, fighting the darkness after she has “lit the fuse,” ready to “spark, ignite” and bare it all. Yet the connection is fleeting as she concludes, “got to run ’cause that’s all I want… as you fall to the start, we’re apart, we have different hearts.”

An open-voiced guitar echoes with a mournful touch as sharp percussive edges drive beneath to begin “Empty in Velvet.” The underpinnings are forceful while wet-sheened tones cascade like rain on glass and Indigo’s honeyed voice threads the melody with fervent tenderness. The guitar repeats a hypnotic, meditative pattern as the lyrics spill with clarity and feeling.

Indigo captures intensely mingled emotions while a gigantic foundation surges and slashing sounds cut cleanly. She carries the chorus with conviction, riding its emotional ebb and flow as notes tumble in frictionless motion and the heaving sublayer closes the song.

Our narrator reflects, “I’ve been gone too long, I beat my heart to make it strong.” When the lights disappear, she says, “under the mirror then you can shiver,” unsure whether she surrendered or resisted, adding that “it can last forever, saturated all the night long.”

As she questions why the song’s subject can’t see they’re no good for her, she vows to “burn, set the fire just to set you free.” She wonders if they can feel “the venom quicken, pulse to heat, driving through your veins,” insisting that “a suit of armor suits you fine, empty in velvet and dying in the starlight.”

“Dreams” commences with bursting notes that flash in blinding intensity as an orchestral string section rings out with brilliance. The drums beat with steady insistence while the strings glow with tenderness and Indigo’s vocal line is shot through with yearning and deep passion, fading into loss.

A driving rhythm supports the vocal melody as it moves with pastel illumination while the strings shine. Indigo’s performance mingles nostalgia and irresistible emotion that draws me in, while trickling notes cast effulgent light over the music and a resonant floor presses forward. Her caressing vocals encapsulate the complexity of love and loss within the lyrics, before the percussion drops away and her warming, delicate presence fades into silence.

“You said you never had these dreams before, this is the first time that you just wanted to be mine,” the song’s subject confesses, to which the storyteller replies that she has never felt fear like this before, because “this is the last time that you can ever just be mine.” As the walls close in and “my skin is paper thin, as it ends then we begin,” she concludes, “I keep falling too deep, falling too deep, right down on your love.”

Reverberant guitar echoes into openness to begin “Tropical.” There’s a funky quality to the guitar as it strums, while levitating sounds drift with calm concentration and peace. A satiny beat glides as Indigo takes hold of the words, delivering them with effortless ease.

A sugared melody is transported on coruscating notes that slip forward with surrounding gentleness, soothing and warm. The song’s mood captures me with its mixture of longing and the anticipation of endings. A pulsing underlayer vibrates while tectonic weight shifts and string-like tones move with a melody that blends affection and ache as the rhythm presses on. Dreamy sensations flow through the music before it gently comes to rest.

Saying “I can meet you in the middle of a daydream,” the narrator admits she may have been fading lately. She tells the song’s subject, “you can just dive in to get me,” yet wonders if they will simply “lie down and clean forget me.”

She questions how long the relationship can last, offering “take my heart, take my hand, take my photograph,” while sensing its fragility, adding, “take it all, take away, it’s not meant to last.”

“I can find you in the middle of a dead street, deadbeat, heartbeat racing, maybe,” she continues, saying the other person could “just drive here to get me,” or perhaps simply “drop by and clean forget me.”

“Sun” opens with notes split by prismatic light as luscious bass creates a firm foundation. The synth forms an iridescent pattern as it dances with the solid drum punch and powerful bass. Indigo’s voice is full of whisper-soft memory as the melody shines with summer radiance.

Tiny notes ring like raindrops, capturing my heart, transporting the melody that skips through the music. Indigo’s vocal presence carries me along with all of the yearning and potential loss within the lyrics. The dancing low end interlocks with fragile sonic droplets which trickle through the music before the song ends.

Midnight has arrived so “you can take the long way home” as the storyteller points out that “summer nights are better on your own.” She urges the song’s subject to consider the first time, adding “we can wait till sunrise” as they “tear it up and tear it down, rip it up and throw it out.”

It might be the final time that the song’s subject can “run and be mine” as our narrator says “tear me up and tear me down, rip me up and throw me out.” In conclusion, she says “you must stop, you’re taking me the wrong way home, summer nights are empty when you’re gone.”

A diamond-like synth is joined by gargantuan bass which pulses steadily to kick off “Breathe.” The melody itself is full of freedom as a quickly flickering note pattern descends and the drums rush with abandon. Intertwining notes gleam like gemstones caught by sunlight as Indigo’s voice wraps me up in a soothing mixture of love and intense caring.

The low end charges with rapid liveliness as the vocals shimmer with freshness and light. The drums collide with propulsive dynamism while, like sudden brightness piercing clouds, the lead synth shifts above a thrumming bassline. Indigo’s performance has an enchanting delicacy as the solidly bursting drums add shape. The song closes with affection and leaping energy.

As summer becomes fall, the narrator “can feel you calling, the writing’s on the wall.” She can hear the echoes of the song’s subject walking down the hall as she asks them to tell her “what you need now.” She can’t breathe as she feels the other person’s “heartbeat swaying so gently.”

Our storyteller asks them to “tell me what you feel now” as she can’t see. She’s fallen into “your eyes now, they arrest me, just breathe.” She concludes, “I can see you falling, high upon the breeze, brought me to my knees.”

“Disguise” commences as inspiring chords rise with a synthesizer that spangles with sunlight before the drums guide the music. A feeling of uplift washes through the music as Indigo captures the essence of the lyrics, filling me with their emotion.

Indigo's voice is like velvet as it wraps around the listener and the main melody gleams with radiance despite the sense of ache. The entire song has a gem-like sheen as it flows with deep sensation permeating it before it ends on luscious chords falling silent.

“In disguise as we try to hold on to the night before it passes us by,” the storyteller says she “held on to the lie that I keep deep inside, it’s mine to keep alive.” She doesn’t need a friend so she doesn’t want what she and the song’s subject have to end. “I’m denied, you decide that you can’t run and hide as long as we survive when it’s time,” and then they’re falling asleep by the fire and “it’s rising like a tide.”

Conclusion

“Dreams” is an album that draws on all of the mixed emotions which define our lives. As it combines Indigo’s whisper-soft but powerfully expressive vocals with her songwriting that cuts to the heart of emotions and a musical backing that weaves its supporting tapestry, the album creates moving portraits of all of our mixed feelings.