Extraordinary music, Shaming Of The Sun presents, in 12 songs, the strengths of Indigo Girls in their entirety. And they're formidable strengths: ebullience and introspection, vocal dazzle and stinging guitar, arrangements breathtakingly intimate or epic in range, street-talk poetry and language on fire. Above all else. . .passion.

What strikes you first is the album's ambition. There's simply so much music here: sweeping strings, raw Stratocaster power, and the delights of a smart instrumental eclecticism -- everything from cornet and bouzouki to stand-up bass, hurdy gurdy, mandolin and talking drum. The ballads, gorgeous and candid "Hey Kind Friend," "Leeds" alternate with up-tempo gems, rocking and direct "It's Alright," "Don't Give That Girl A Gun" Hip-hop swagger inflects "Shed Your Skin" Ulali, a Native American vocal ensemble, enlivens the track as well. Unifying all of this rich musical diversity are two of today's unmistakable voices -- Amy Ray and Emily Saliers -- and the fused grace of their vision.

"Sometimes I dread the studio experience," Amy says, "But when I get in there, it's almost mystical, the way it overwhelms me." Of this particular project, some four months in the making, Emily says: "In the studio Amy and I felt completely free to do exactly what we wanted to do. For the first time, we co- produced; we learned, and wrote on, a lot of different instruments; we weren't afraid to try something much more expansive. And I feel good about this record in ways I've never felt about anything we've done in the past."

That past, of course, is already impressive. Ever since they emerged from Atlanta with the release of Strange Fire on their own Indigo Records in 1987, Indigo Girls have delivered music that's singularly fresh, singularly inspiring. Two years later, their self-titled Epic label debut won the Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Folk Album. With four subsequent Grammy nominations; an audience allegiance captured live in 1991 on Back On The Bus, Y'all and again on 1200 Curfews in 1995; and a trail-blazing catalogue ranging from 1990's Nomads*Indians*Saints and 1992‰s Rites of Passage to 1994's Swamp Ophelia, the duo have proved themselves songwriters and musicians of exceptional depth and integrity.

As with these past triumphs, the magic of Shaming Of The Sun began with the songs. "I write at any time, and constantly -- snippets and snatches in notebooks and on cassettes," Amy says. "I may ultimately use only ten per cent of what I come up with -- I just keep writing." This time, composing primarily on electric guitar, Ray worked with a special spontaneity: "Almost everything here is very literal, very explicit. I just wanted to get the songs out. . .When I looked back later, I realized that the literal meanings of the songs, without forcing them, corresponded to something larger."

Her partner Emily agrees: "Amy's stream-of-consciousness approach -- and it's one I envy --- allows her music to take on its own whole, large life. it's the basis of the unfettered passion all her songs exude." Saliers herself, writing on electric and acoustic guitars -- and this time, on piano and banjo as well -- concentrated on refining ideas that "may come while I'm driving or after I've seen a film or read a good book or am just wandering around outside." Meticulous in her method, Emily possesses what Amy praises as "an ability to come up with melodies with genuine mass appeal. That's amazing. She can also turn a phrase with the same result."

Recording, with co-producer David Leonard, in Nashville, Austin and Atlanta, Indigo Girls assembled their ace drummer Jerry Marotta and bassist Sara Lee along with a host of terrific guests: country-rock troubadour Steve Earle, violinist Lisa Germano, Ani DiFranco drummer Andy Stochansky, Atlanta notables Michelle Malone and members of Smoke and the Rockateens. With the assertive "Shame On You" kicking things off with what Amy calls "a re al rock 'n' roll feel," Shaming Of The Sun surges through Emily's "Get Out The Map." "I have a restless internal life -- the song's also about how we hurtle ourselves through space and time and the dizziness we can get caught up in." "Caramia," with Sara Lee's extraordinary string arrangement; "Cut It Out," all sinewy guitar and dead-on drumming; "Everything In Its Own Time," wise and passionate (Nothing is ours/Not even love so fierce it burns like baby stars"); and "Shed Your Skin," with its stark, evocative lyrics "I got the hangman/I got milagro/I got the celebration too" -- through these songs, Indigo Girls chronicle the whole of the heart's life: anguished and open, dark and joyful.

Regardless of their methods, both writers freight their songs with meanings as roundly shaded as those of reality itself. In "Scooter Boys," Amy Ray nails oppression in images both present and past (the ghost of Zapata, the rumble of scooters); in "Burn All The Letters," Emily Saliers joins the personal and political. "The song's about the public's insatiable desire for consumption of things intended to be private, she explains. "It's also about protecting the sacredness of a love by destroying the physical evidence." This fusion of intelligence and fervor flashes, too, from music that's equally trenchant: It moves us - body, mind, soul.

Indigo Girls have always been pathfinders. In the past, they've worked with musicians as diverse as Michael Stipe, Jane Siberry, Jackson Browne, the Roches and Mary Chapin Carpenter. Impatient with labels, they've crafted memorable music from a tapestry of elements: folk, rock, world beat, indigenous music, choral tradition. The Indigos' ongoing commitment to social as well as musical change was exem- plified by their 1995 "Honor The Earth" tour, a month-long, 21-stop benefit concert trek which raised more than $300,000 for Native American environmental groups; and by the release (on Amy Ray's own Daemon Records label) of an acc ompanying CD, Honor, featuring Bonnie Raitt, Soul Asylum and Victoria Williams among others.

Shaming Of The Sun, then, is the triumph of an integrated vision. It's music fueled and filled with great hope -- music that reaches out. "We get a lot of letters from people who are very specific about the ways that certain songs have helped them through a difficult time or changed them or made them think about things," Emily says. "Our fans are very loyal, and they're closely tied into the emotional aspect of our music." Amy concurs, and elaborates: "We've just met so many fantastic people along the way. Probably the best part of this work is the traveling."

"Traveling" - like Indigo Girls' music, the word is a fully realized metaphor, literal and spiritual. Shaming Of The Sun, traveling to the deepest reaches of ourselves, continues these two women's remarkable journey.

Other fan pages:

• Listening to Indigo
• Andi's Indigo Girls Links