Indigo De Souza’s new album meditates on grief, self-discovery and friendship

My favorite music genre is hands down angsty-queer-indie-pop-rock. Artists such as Snail Mail, Soccer Mommy, Lucy Dacus and girl in red are making music in this genre that never seems to bore me. If you are obsessed with this genre as much as I am, you should listen to Indigo De Souza’s new album “Any Shape You Take.”

Indigo is from North Carolina. She recorded her first EP’s “Boys” and “Don’t Cry Just Do” in her friend’s garage back in 2017. Her first full-length album titled “I Love My Mom” was released a year later in 2018. The album was re-released earlier this year with the help of Saddle Creek Records and now she has over half a million monthly listeners on Spotify. A number of you may know her from her song “Take Off Ur Pants.”

Her new album “Any Shape You Take” was produced with the help of Brad Cook. Cook has helped produce music for Bon Iver and Waxahatchee. When listening to the album, you can hear the influence of these two groups. She uses autotune and synths in a similar fashion to Bon Iver and harmonizes with her voice which Bon Iver does a lot. The guitar in her song “Darker Than Death” sounds like it could be in a Waxahatchee song—the two are very interchangeable.

When listening to the album for the first time, I was overwhelmed to say the least.

Her song “Real Pain” opens with a clear-headed meditation on the inescapability of grief. The song climaxes in a cacophony of crowdsourced screams. It’s overwhelmed by heavy metal shrieks, dog barks and what sounds like someone exasperatedly repeating a word I can’t write in The Record.

This song is a lot and I have a hard time listening to the whole thing, however, its chaos makes sense. The song quickly shifts back to indie pop with Indigo singing, “I wanna kick, wanna scream, I wanna know it’s not my fault”. Sometimes pain feels like this song.

The most popular song on the album is “Hold U”. It is an indie-pop anthem about friendship and self-discovery. Her lyrics are minimal but speak a message. She is guiding the listener, holding them and supporting them through the joys and struggles of being a young person.

“Any Shape You Take” has songs you will want to play and scream to at your next party and songs you will want to listen to while you are alone and need to release a certain energy. Whatever it is, let this album take you there, and let me know what you think.