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Apr 26, 2023 Issue #71 - Weyes Blood and Black Belt Eagle Scout By James Scott

There’s a bravery to Indigo De Souza’s songwriting that is becoming more clear with each album: it’s the nakedness of emotion. De Souza never hides behind or obscures her message, she states it plainly and openly and allows you to come along for the ride (or not). Not that there’s a lack of poetry in her lyrics, but the clear-eyed storytelling of, say, “The Water,” in which De Souza goes skinny-dipping, and remembers a quick tryst, has a chorus consisting of, “I really love/I really love/I really love/The water.”

This simplicity allows De Souza to juggle more themes and undercurrents, from hope in the face of limitation to the ecstatic pleasures of simplicity. As the title suggests, however, much of the album is concerned with making the most of time on earth.

Musically, All of This Will End showcases the same genre-hopping De Souza has become known for, but because the production places her front and center, the album still holds together as such. From the dreamy pop of “Time Back” to the soft shuffle of “Losing” to the heavy-soled stomp of “Wasting Your Time” to the top-down joy of “Smog,” De Souza always manages to feel authentic, merely in different moods. Even when a track turns on a dime, like the explosion of fury in “Always” it just works.

The album closes with the astonishing “Younger & Dumber,” which should go on the short list of greatest final statements in recent memory. Her voice has never sounded better, and the shattering story of trying to explain oneself to someone who no longer understands you (“I don’t feel at home/In this house/Anymore”), and how confusing that tangle of memory and truths that have slowly rotted into lies can be (“It’s just cuz I get so/Tired of filling the space/All around me”), but like the rest of this glimmering record, there’s hope at the heart of it, the understanding that no time is wasted if it’s used to move forward. (www.indigodesouza.com)

Author rating: 8/10