Indigo De Souza – All of This Will End (2023)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 32:40 minutes | 626 MB | Genre: Indie Rock, Female Vocal
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Saddle Creek
“I was finally able to trust myself fully,” says Indigo De Souza of making her masterful third album All of This Will End. Across 11 its songs, the LP is a raw and radically optimistic work that grapples with mortality, the rejuvenation that community brings, and the importance of centering yourself now. These tracks come from the most resonant moments of her life: childhood memories, collecting herself in parking lots, the ecstatic trips spent wandering Appalachian mountains and southern swamps with friends, and the times she had to stand up for herself. “All of This Will End feels more true to me than anything ever has,” she says.In many ways, All of This Will End has become a personal motto for Indigo. “Every day I wake up with the thought that this could be the end,” she says. “You could look at it as a sad thing, or you could look at it as a really precious thing: Today I’m alive and at some point, I will not be in this body anymore. But for now, I can do so much with being alive.” There’s a peacefulness in acceptance throughout. As she sings on the title track, “I’m only loving only moving through and trying my best / Sometimes it’s not enough but I’m still real and I forgive.” She describes the experience of writing this song as “magic,” as if everything about it from the words and melody had felt timeless and intangible and that she was just writing it down. Like the hues of reds and oranges that her mother painted on the LP cover, All of This Will End marks a warmer and unmistakably audacious era for her. It’s a statement about fearlessly moving forward from the past into a gratitude-filled present, feeling it all every step of the way, and choosing to embody loving awareness.
On her third album, Indigo De Souza, 25, is trying to figure out life and who she is, but knows the answers don’t come easy. “Time Back” is a musical and emotional rollercoaster, starting out as exuberant synth pop before De Souza spits a playground taunt—”You’re bad/ You suck/ You fucked me up”—over a loop of squalling kids, then the whole thing disintegrates into disorienting, spooky feedback. And that’s all in just over two minutes; indeed, De Souza has a knack for keeping things short and bittersweet: Most of the songs on All of This Will End are three minutes or less. That’s all the time it takes for her to poke at her own bruises—but she’s also pointing fingers at her tormentors, and figuring out how to reclaim her power. “You can be a dick to me/ That’s what I’m used to,” she starts out on “You Can Be Mean,” which comes on like a ray of ’90s sunshine, cheerful whistle and all. But then self-preservation kicks in, along with churning guitars: “I can’t believe I let you touch my body/ I can’t believe I let you get inside.” De Souza has said it’s “about the last horrible guy that I let push me around,” one who she initially made excuses for: “I’d like to think you got a good heart and your dad was just an asshole growing up.” Her own dad does not escape scrutiny. “Father/ I thought you’d be here/ I thought you’d try/ I thought you’d stay,” she sings on “Always,” which goes from bare bones to a monstrous whirl, De Souza’s voice at once light as a feather then breaking into a furious whoop. She appealingly, lazily performs vocal acrobatics on “All of This Will End” (as in “Who gives a fuck/ All of this will end”—advocating for choosing acceptance in the face of anxiety) and lets out a goth howl over the heavy stomp of “Wasting Your Time.” “Smog” applies a high-energy dance beat to self-reproach (“I eat too much when l’m lonely/ I bury everything/ I wanna face it head-on/ But it’s so easy to turn it away”). “The Water” surprises with a horn arrangement, and “Not My Body” plays with steel guitar dreaminess to reach Alanis Morissette-ike mysticism. Like Blondshell’s Sabrina Teitelbaum, De Souza can pull off the heavy stuff—real guitar rock—as well as a killer power ballad; see: “Younger & Dumber,” a heartbreaker kissed with steel guitar. As she sings on “Parking Lot,” “I’m a growing girl/ My ups and downs are natural.” – Shelly Ridenour
Tracklist:
1-01. Indigo De Souza – Time Back (02:11)
1-02. Indigo De Souza – You Can Be Mean (02:24)
1-03. Indigo De Souza – Losing (02:19)
1-04. Indigo De Souza – Wasting Your Time (02:00)
1-05. Indigo De Souza – Parking Lot (02:25)
1-06. Indigo De Souza – All of This Will End (02:59)
1-07. Indigo De Souza – Smog (03:14)
1-08. Indigo De Souza – The Water (03:23)
1-09. Indigo De Souza – Always (02:51)
1-10. Indigo De Souza – Not My Body (04:11)
1-11. Indigo De Souza – Younger & Dumber (04:39)
