Hammer and a Nail," the opener on the Indigo Girls' latest effort, Nomads * Indians * Saints, sounds as if it could have been written by a Sesame Street puppet. The bouncy number ("I look behind my ears for the green/Even my sweat smells clean") is clearly the Georgia duo's bow to critics who blasted its big-selling teardrop-special debut, Indigo Girls, for being too dour.

Fortunately, the Little Mary Sunshine act doesn't last long, and we find that these two Southern chanteuses, Emily Saliers and Amy Ray, still have the weight of the world on their shoulders. Yet, like their fellow angst purveyor Bob Dylan, they somehow make contrived phrases work for them and their powerful acoustic music.

Who knows what a devil monkey is, but the image works well in "Welcome Me" ("Welcome me to the city of angels/There's a devil monkey laying on our backs"), the disc's best and most cryptic song. The confessional "You and Me of the 10,000 Wars" sounds as if the Indigos had a lengthy chat with Joni Mitchell and asked, "How did you write those songs on Blue, woman?" and came away with the inspiration to produce this moving track. Things especially shine when leather-lunged Amy Ray sings her fire-and-brimstone diatribes about vacant souls and God. In "Pushing the Needle Too Far," her voice would make the hair on the devil monkey's back stand up.

Even though these songs sound like cheap therapy at times, as if the Girls were experimenting with a new type of harmonious catharsis, Nomads * Indians * Saints is a perfect fall disc. It's hokey, fun, dark, happy and underlined with a sinister feel that makes your blood rush. (RS 592)

CHUCK DEAN