lifeblood: songs: backgrounds: angels we have heard on high

2010-10-11: indigo girls listened to 'a million' christmas songs for album, contact music

indigo girls are set to release their new album 'holly happy days' tomorrow (october 12th), and they have revealed that listening to countless christmas songs inspired most of the material on the record. the much anticipated 12 track album features a number of bluegrass inspired holidays songs, such as 'oh holy night', 'i'll be home for christmas', and 'angels we have heard on high', and the duo admit that they trawled through just about every festive song to find the right tracks.

singer emily saliers, told billboard.com, "we spent a long time listening through christmas songs. our manager gave us a million different christmas songs, hanukkah songs ... we went through everything and started out with a bunch of songs we were super, super excited about". as well as covering popular holiday songs, the girls have tackled some lesser known tracks for the new record, including mike burn's 'peace child', and beth nielsen chapman's 'there's still my joy'.

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2010-11-30: interview: peace and harmonies from indigo girls on holiday debut, wicked local

the bluegrass numbers are the most fun on the album, but there's also a spiritual current running through several of the selections, such as "angels we have heard on high." saliers says that's no accident.

"there's no doubt about it ... amy and i grew up with that hymn," she says of "angels." "we wanted to add a bit of a baroque feel in terms of the instrumentation. so we did that with the guitar and mandolin duet interplay in there."

the song also contains an a cappella key change that stands out even on an album filled with intricate harmonies. "that was fun," she continues. "you've just got to take a leap of faith and go up your half step with nothing to support you."