Indigo De Souza
“There’s so many records I’d like to put out,” Indigo De Souza tells me, speaking from her home near Asheville, N.C., as she packs her bags for the second leg of a two-month U.S. tour that concludes Monday at Brooklyn Bowl Nashville. The three LPs De Souza’s already made for Omaha’s venerable Saddle Creek Records are accomplished for her age, 26. The last time I caught her, two summers back, she was showcasing her whisper-to-a-scream vocal versatility and the pleasingly disorienting dynamics of her debut I Love My Mom and its then-new follow-up Any Shape You Take at Bonnaroo.
Though both records have moments of harsh noise and elements of sound collage, they’re built on a foundation of strong melodic sensibility. Last year’s All of This Will End raises the stakes in that regard. From tender ballads, to grunge dirges, to pastoral meditations like the title track, to the disarmingly forthright “Smog” and “You Can Be Mean” — younger cousins to Jagged Little Pill-era Alanis — the material makes its point, while never overstaying its welcome.
Tracks like the cacophonous “Always,” meanwhile, make clear De Souza hasn’t gone full-on pop yet. But it’s a side of her songcraft she aims to take further. Once she’s done with the current tour cycle, De Souza plans to finish an LP she’s been working on for the past year with Twin Cities-raised, L.A.-residing producer Elliott Kozel, whose CV reads like a who’s-who of modern pop and R&B movers-and-shakers including SZA, Lizzo, FINNEAS and Yves Tumor.
Introduced by De Souza’s publishing company, the two instantly connected — “started and didn’t stop,” she says, describing the forthcoming record as “emotional, and big … glossier, more hi-fi than my usual stuff. When [Kozel] and I met, we weren’t planning on making a record — it just happened. We connected, and found a sound together.”
Once that’s wrapped, she’s already got designs on “something with more country-leaning songs” inspired by Lucinda Williams. De Souza’s mother — painter Kim Oberhammer, who handles all De Souza’s cover art and watches her dog Frankie while she’s on the road — raised her children on Williams’ music in Spruce Pine, N.C., a town of about 2,000 people.
“When I moved to Asheville at 16, my music taste widened,” De Souza says, “but I still listen to [Williams] a lot. … I play solo, acoustic sometimes. … It’s rare, and it’s intense, but I get it done.”
Anyone who’s been to Asheville, the biggest city in Western North Carolina, knows how crowded it’s gotten, and how quickly. The population increased by more than half over the past 30 years to about 100,000 people.
“I live outside of Asheville, which feels better,” De Souza says. “I like the nature [here]. I grew up around that, so I feel attached to it. … I can’t say for sure, but I think I’ll be here the rest of my life. My people are here. It feels good to come home. I’m an introvert when I’m here — I don’t go out that much, into town.”
Still, the area offers a musician no shortage of potential backing musicians or collaborators. Last year, De Souza’s longtime drummer MJ Lenderman’s main band, contemplative Asheville noise-rockers Wednesday, went full-time with their acclaimed Dead Oceans LP Rat Saw God. Now behind the kit — joining extant bassist Landon George and multi-instrumentalist Maddie Shuler — is Lila Richardson of foursome Bex, whose 2022 EP Move It or Lose It is an emotionally driven indie-rock hidden gem.
“Someone brought [Richardson] up as an idea, and I remembered her being a fun person, so I reached out and she ended up being perfect. Her style — it’s confident, straightforward when it needs to be, but with flair when it needs that, too. She’s steady.”
