Bringing Songs To Life In New Ways

Cris Cohen: Did this whole process [recording a concert with a symphony] change how you viewed any particular song of yours?

Emily Saliers of the Indigo Girls: That's a really good question. Gosh, I'll have to think about that for a second. I just have to say that the arrangements, they bring the songs to life in a way that I didn't experience before then. And so now, even when Amy and I are playing as a duo, I hear those arrangements in my head.

You know how orchestral arrangements can be. They get used in movies all the time because they evoke emotion. They can make you feel things in a very big way, when the orchestra kicks in. I think it's the same way with these songs. To have that beautiful sound, now, as part of the landscape of the song, is profound. What I end up feeling is, those arrangements really bring the messages of the songs home. 

I'll pick a song like “Mystery.” It's about a relationship, but it also describes the end of summer and what it feels like outside in the weather. It's describing these two people and the mystery of what's going on, both in the physical world and in their relationship.

The strings just make that like a movie inside my head. So I think the arrangements just bring the songs to life in a new way. But I wouldn't say that they make me stop and think about the lyrics in a different way. They just sort of heighten the experience.

Full interview