Shirlette Ammons premieres "Earth Intro" ft. Indigo Girls

Shirlette Ammons
Photo by Boris Niehaus

While you were probably out day-drinking and Hopscotching around last Friday, it's possible that you may have missed one of our state's most impressive emcees releasing one of her most progressive tracks to date. Last Friday Shirlette Ammons not-so-quietly released her new single, "Earth Intro" from her forthcoming sophomore album Language Barrier. "Earth Intro" debuted on arguably one of the largest Feminist media outlets, Bitch Media and marks a huge departure from Ammons' previous releases.

Featuring Emily Saliers and Amy Ray of the Grammy Award-winning act the Indigo Girls, "Earth Intro" is a track that contains multitudes. Aesthetically it lands at a frenetic blend between indie rock, folk rock and hip-hop with echos of punk rock influences abound. There's sharply spat vocals meshed with whirring yet distorted fiddle lines, rich dynamic changes and both inward and outwardly facing lyrical content. The way vocals have a slight distortion to them allows them to dig deep into the instrumentation and serve as much textural purpose as it does to forward the song's themes.

Ammons told Bitch Media that the Indigo Girls' "gorgeous songwriting" and "fierce harmonies" help lend an "anthemic" feel to "Earth Intro", giving a brief peek into the contributions brought forth by Saliers and Ray. Both of the Indigo Girls have been active in the environmental, gender equality and gay rights movements, perfectly coinciding with Ammons' own contributions to the social spectrum. You may remember Ammons' collaboration with Caitlin Cary (formerly of Whiskeytown), "My Body Politic" from NC Music Love Army's 2014 release. While working with folk songwriters isn't entirely out of Ammons' musical spectrum, it's exciting to see her ever-expanding boundaries of hip-hop and continually defying expectations of the genre. Ammons also noted that Meshell Ndegeocello and Amelia Meath of Sylvan Esso will be serving as collaborators on Language Barrier, which is set for an early 2016 release. Check out the track below: