After their signature hit played a prominent role in last year’s “Barbie,” the Indigo Girls are bound for the big screen once again.
Twenty-five songs by the folk-rock duo appear on the soundtrack of a new movie musical, “Glitter & Doom.” The film, which opens in theaters Friday, follows Glitter (Alex Diaz), an aspiring circus performer, and Doom (Alan Cammish), a brooding singer-songwriter, as they embark on a fantastical queer romance. In addition to Diaz and Cammish, the cast includes actors Lea DeLaria, Tig Notaro and Missi Pyle as well as the Indigo Girls themselves, Amy Ray and Emily Saliers.
HuffPost caught a first listen to one of the songs off the “Glitter & Doom” soundtrack album. In it, Cammish, Diaz and Pyle perform a wistful medley of the Indigo Girls’ 1989 smash “Closer to Fine” and “Everything In Its Own Time,” from 1997’s “Shaming of the Sun.”
Listen to “Closer to Fine” and “Everything In Its Own Time” below.
In an email to HuffPost, director Tom Gustafson and screenwriter Cory Krueckeberg said the mashup appears during “a moment of connection and pride and resolution” in the movie.
The scene’s message of inclusivity also resonated with Tommy Krasker, founder of the PS Classics record label, on which the soundtrack is being released.
“By placing the songs within a context of a film musical, and telling the story through Amy and Emily’s lyrics, it makes you see their work in ways you hadn’t before,” Krasker said. “And by forging a queer love story on the screen at a time when LGBTQ+ rights are in danger of being restricted and revoked, it makes a powerful and positive statement that never turns polemic. These are bold and brilliant achievements.”
Though “Closer to Fine” remains a millennial playlist staple 35 years after its release, the Indigo Girls themselves never achieved superstar status outside of the LGBTQ+ community. Still, there’s no question that Ray and Saliers are prolific musicians, having recorded 15 studio albums ranging from their 1987 debut, “Strange Fire,” to their most recent release, 2020’s “Look Long.”
Courtesy of Music Box Films
And the pair have enjoyed a cultural resurgence as of late. In addition to the “Barbie” feature and the release of “Glitter & Doom,” they’re the subject of a forthcoming documentary, “Indigo Girls: It’s Only Life After All.” This summer, they’ll join Melissa Etheridge for a co-headlining tour across the U.S., followed by performances with Judy Collins, Amos Lee and Rufus Wainwright.
Krueckeberg, whose credits include the films “Hello Again” and “Last Ferry” (as a producer), wrote the “Glitter & Doom” script as a 20th anniversary gift for Gustafson, his real-life partner.
As to why he selected the Indigo Girls’ music for his narrative, he said: “Who else better to give a voice to an unapologetically queer love story? So few artists still today are fully out and proud, and Amy and Emily have been blazing that trail for decades.”
“It’s a testament to the quality of their writing that it works as well as it does in the film and the soundtrack album,” he explained. “They are at once universal and also deeply personal in the tone and content of their lyrics.”