Standing on a precipice will be thrilling or terrifying, relying on the particular person. On her new album Precipice, Indigo De Souza appears to be experiencing each without delay.
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It may very well be as a result of this new album finds the singer-songwriter absolutely venturing into the poppier territory she’s solely hinted at on prior songs like “Maintain U” and “Smog.” Regardless of how lo-fi and uncooked her acclaimed previous albums had been, it was all the time clear that De Souza had an ear for pop hooks and beats. Now she’s absolutely leaning into these tendencies, in her songwriting but in addition in her selections of partnering with producer Elliott Kozel (SZA, Yves Tumor), switching to the larger label Loma Vista, and even recording in Los Angeles, versus her earlier residence base of North Carolina.
If you mix these new components along with her established intimate, DIY work, you get the dynamic distinction that makes up the beating coronary heart of Precipice. This album is a set of pop songs with an indie rock soul, equally able to be performed alongside Lorde or Soccer Mommy. If you wish to instantly hear what that feels like, De Souza’s finest instance—and an instantaneous standout observe—is the album’s first single, “Heartthrob.” It’s De Souza’s most anthemic music but (which is saying one thing since her “Maintain U” has been on each playlist I’ve made for the previous 4 years), with a driving beat able to fill an area. But the lyrics discover De Souza taking again abuse from her youth to turn out to be a supply of energy shifting ahead, making a darker, deeper expertise than the intense riffs and chant-able “I actually put my again into it!” refrain may initially counsel.
This steadiness of enjoyable melodies with confessional lyrics continues throughout the album’s highlights. “Crying Over Nothing” is a twinkling ’80s-ish bop about permitting your self to take a seat within the ache of a break-up. “Be Just like the Water” is an ebb and circulate of ephemeral synths about rediscovering power in your self. Even the album’s songs that select one emotional lane steadiness one another out, because the Robyn-esque “Crush” and Mitski-adjacent “Heartbreaker” appear to be bookends to a relationship with the identical particular person.
This mixture of exhausting and smooth is finest captured on “Not Afraid,” a music that shifts from heavenly vocals into crunching keyboards as she sings about discovering the arrogance to like freely by dealing with mortality head-on. It’s as open-hearted a love music as I’ve heard in 2025, however the one one with a chorus like, “I’m not afraid of dying anymore.”
The album’s highlights shine so brightly that a few of the different songs really feel like unsure works-in-progress or B-sides in ready by comparability. “Dinner” and “Go It By,” as an example, lack the arrogance and eureka moments of Precipice’s finest tracks. However these tracks nonetheless slot in sonically, thanks partly to Kozel’s manufacturing, which feels refined and radio-friendly whereas nonetheless maintaining an inviting heat.
Precipice closes with the title observe, an ode to hanging on throughout life’s most attempting occasions. De Souza appears to be unsure of what’s forward of her, however hopefully she’ll proceed to marry heartfelt lyrics with cathartic melodies for extra songs that can have us all crying on the dance ground.
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