Indigo De Souza and the importance of putting yourself first

Indigo De Souza’s performance at the Mission Creek Festival this year was, in her own words, “a bit of an out-of-body experience.” That was just as true for the audience at the Englert Theatre as it was for De Souza. For those in attendance, hearing songs from her 2023 album All Of This Will End was a truly special moment.

And for De Souza, it was a chance to perform in the home state of one of her biggest musical influences: the late Arthur Russell, who was born in Oskaloosa.

“I really just love the freedom within the music,” said De Souza. “It’s just so genuine and real. And I love his lyrics. They're so off the cuff. I love the lyrics, I love the sounds, I love the exploration of it all.”

“You can (also) just tell that (Russell) was making the music only for himself,” said De Souza. “I believe that that is the only reason I should be making music, is just because it's for me and it sounds good to me.”

Anyone who’s listened to one of De Souza’s records can confirm that. Not only is her music stylistically her own, she’s very willing to get personal in her lyrics. It goes along with being very open about her mental health struggles, especially when it comes to being a touring musician.

“I've slowed down touring since I've kind of come fully to terms with that,” said De Souza. “Something that I started doing is I put a three-week cap on our tours. I also think that it just helps to have an incredible team around you. It’s important for the crew to feel like a family, because otherwise it starts to feel really lonely.”

Having a close-knit group on the road means everyone looks out for each other. "We definitely play games a lot and we tend to like, have really in-depth conversations about our lives, which is really helpful," said De Souza. "Last tour I brought my dog with me, which was great. That was a huge help, and I know that all of us are really diligent about calling home. If you don't keep in touch with people at home, you start to feel really disconnected from what's going on."

“It’s hard to be away from home, to be away from the people that you know and love and the things that are familiar to you,” said De Souza. “Being home is my place of stability, and it is the place where I get to really cultivate a community for myself and really connect to nature and really learn from it, and can just be with it on a daily basis.”

Speaking of home and family, De Souza has collaborated with her mother on the artwork for all three of her albums. Her mother is a visual artist who works in a variety of media, including sculptures and knitting. De Souza came up with the concept years ago of a mother-daughter theme, with skeletons and cacti.

“I don't know what year it was, but I was at a festival with my mom and I was watching her dance,” said De Souza. “I could see her bones moving under her skin, and I just had this very clear image of the mother and daughter skeleton, and thought about how it would be cool to kind of depict a journey of like through time to coincide with the albums. And yeah, she's just been doing that ever since I had that vision.”

At the time we spoke with De Souza, it had been almost a full year since All Of This Will End was released. As she was getting ready to perform, I had to ask if her feelings about the record had changed.

“I still really like it, so that's a good sign,” said De Souza. “It's hard to perform the songs for as long as I've been performing them. That can get a little old at times, but other times it feels great. It just depends on the night.”

All of Indigo De Souza’s albums are available on Bandcamp and streaming services .