Indigo Summer Prove Two Is Better Than One
Hope Nix and Bryan Edwards of Indigo Summer never intended to become a duo. Each singer was hard at work on their respective solo careers and would frequently sing backing vocals for the other, as well as write together. After several people asked if they were a duo, the wheels started turning.
As Nix explains, the idea came to fruition on their way back from a songwriters' festival in Virginia, where six different people approached them with the same question. They toyed with the idea and decided to write songs for this hypothetical duo.
"The first few songs that we wrote together were better than anything we had ever done as solo artists," Edwards recalls, sitting beside Nix at Nashville's Frothy Monkey. "We just rode the momentum, and it's never really changed, to be honest. We clicked really well."
The two friends met in 2010 when both were playing solo gigs at Hotel Indigo in Nashville, which would become their namesake. Once they decided to team up, they realized that an important factor into making Indigo Summer work was for their music to relate to both sexes. While it makes the songwriting process more challenging, they are proud of the ultimate outcome and the ability to relate to the listener, whether male or female. As Edwards shares, they know each other well as friends and what they both want to represent as a band.
It's evident the duo is working out when witnessing the two artists deep in discussion — they frequently finish each other's sentences without missing a beat. As Nix shares how different their solo projects were — hers was "country, but edgy" and his was laid back with a beach vibe — Edwards adds, "We've married both of those things in our music."
Indigo Summer describe their music as "fun, sexy, country," and their 12-track, self-titled debut album merges these characteristics flawlessly. While upbeat new single "Pop, Fizz, Clink" brings the party feel, previous release "Something You Miss" is more somber and tells the tale of a difficult breakup. Nix says the latter is the most honest song on their album.
"It was definitely me being vulnerable about something that happened to me, but it was also tasteful and didn't reveal too much about my personal life," she explains.
Nix had the song's title in her phone for a while, and she brought it to her co-writers, Edwards and Colby Dee. The duo laugh as they recall sitting on the floor to write the song. "We had a couch. We had chairs. But we wanted the floor," Edwards adds. "Being friends with her and working with her, I knew the struggle that she was experiencing with the breakup. Knowing that it wasn't something that she really wanted to be a part of ... the whole premise of the song is trying to be somebody you're not to try to make somebody else take you back or try to get them back."
Indigo Summer wrote the song in 45 minutes, and Nix notes that while it was personal, there were also parts that portrayed the guy's perspective, which is something Edwards could relate to because he had been there, too.
While writing "Something You Miss" was therapy for Nix, Indigo Summer's latest single was a fun, champagne-filled session with Jessica Roadcap.
"The night before, I went into one of the cabinets in our kitchen and opened it up, and my wife has this stash of cocktail napkins that say different things on them," Edwards recalls. "One of them fell out and it said 'Pop, Fizz, Clink,' and I was like, 'That's got to be a song!' The girls came over, and I'm like, 'We're going to write a song about champagne.' I had a bottle of champagne already in the fridge so we busted that open, and it's called 'Pop, Fizz, Clink.' I brought out the napkins, served the girls champagne. We wrote the song from there."
The music video for the song was released in March and showcases the duo and their friends at a house party, replicating New Year's Eve. A dance party ensues as Indigo Summer sing and play guitar, and there is plenty of confetti and champagne to go around.
Indigo Summer's brand of music is a radio-friendly blend of pop country that brings to mind Taylor Swift and Lady Antebellum — two acts to which they are often compared, and Indigo Summer welcome the association.
"I take it as a compliment because I love their harmonies," Nix says of Lady Antebellum. "She has a beautiful voice, and he has a very distinct voice."
Bandmate Edwards nods in agreement and then jumps in.
"I don't mind it either. We'll take that," he reasons. "It's interesting, too, because Hope and I have very different and distinct voices. If you heard her by herself, and you heard me by myself, you wouldn't think it would necessarily work, but there's just something about it. It honestly blows my mind. I never expected it to be that way."
Indigo Summer have their early fans and frequent Nashville collaborators to thank for the decision to join forces and become a duo.
"Sometimes you have to have other people point it out to you. That's okay," Edwards concedes. "That's what this town does. It polishes you, it sharpens you, it makes you better. It gives you the direction you need to take your career."
Already seeing their music videos aired on CMT, GAC, the Country Network and Radio Disney, Indigo Summer are proving the old adage true: Two heads are, in fact, better than one.
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