Indigo De Souza - All Of This Will End

Going into ‘All Of This Will End’, Indigo De Souza is unwilling to waste even a single second. The first five tracks all clock in at under 2-and-a-half minutes and are almost all punchy, ferocious and crunchy. It’s bold and uncompromising, but often buries the singer-songwriter’s voice both literally and metaphorically in an overbearing soundscape: for every ferocious lyric that justifies the driving sound (“I’d like to think you have a good heart / And your dad was just an asshole growing up / but I don’t see you trying that hard to be better than he is”), there’s a meandering stream of consciousness (“In the parking lot / I feel like I am somewhere else / I text my boss to say I’m not feeling well / and I’m not sure what is wrong with me”). The record’s second half sees Indigo let loose, switching up her formula: songs are longer, more expansive, and it’s all the better for it. ‘Smog’ is a club-ready bop that recalls the peppy charm of 2021’s ‘Hold U’ without feeling like a rehash. ‘Always’, meanwhile, offers a needed moment of catharsis. Utilising loud-quiet dynamics, it begins lusciously and sparsely but soon breaks into feral screams, as she cries “Father / I thought you’d be here / I thought you’d try / I thought you’d stay”. Closer ‘Younger & Dumber’ is a hugely evocative, gradually-building power ballad that exists on an entirely different plain to the rest of the album. At the point of crescendo, she sings of all that drags her down (“I get so tired of filling the space all around me”) and all that she has to offer (“the love I feel is so powerful it can take you anywhere”). It’s an immensely moving moment of reconciliation between grace and hardship, love and isolation. It’s also a reminder of her best songwriting.