Ani DiFranco is such a prolific musician that it becomes increasingly difficult to find ways to write about her. Now, each time she casts something out into the world via her Righteous Babe Records, the question that’s automatically raised is: What is left for her to say?
Quite a lot, apparently. DiFranco’s newest album is “Evolve,” her second album in less than a year. While it comes on the heels of “So Much Shouting, So Much Laughter,” this is her first release since 2001’s “Revelling/Reckoning,” containing significant new material.
Still, some of these tunes have been kicking around in DiFranco’s repertory for awhile. She played “Icarus” in concert as early as 2001, and many of the songs on “Evolve” appeared at her McDonald Theatre concert in November. But unlike her recent tours, which have been solo, this a band album, featuring the same folks seen on last year’s video/concert documentary, “Render.”
The 12 tracks on “Evolve” exhibit a continuing movement toward poetic writing for this righteous babe. Fewer songs on the album follow the set standard of verse, followed by chorus, followed by another verse, and are instead driven around ideas. Themes recur, but aren’t as overtly political, and are more cerebral than previous releases.
“Serpentine” is one of the strongest of all the 12 tracks. It’s a free-form poem that opens with a lengthy, jazzy guitar solo. The poetry here is so powerful that the strings of words
hit like sharp icicles and elicit a tingling sensation that reverberates through a listener’s spine. One fragment: “Hip-hop is tied up in the back room / With a logo stuffed in its mouth / Cuz the master’s tools will never dismantle the master’s house.”
“O My My” is a highlight for DiFranco’s vocals, as she sings out the song’s title; “Slide” doesn’t cease to shock with words like: “And my pussy is a tractor / And this is a tractor pull.”
Musically, these songs run the gamut but have a strong influence from jazz and Latin sounds. DiFranco’s guitar playing is wonderful, and she even dials it in on piano for “O My My.”
Because DiFranco has finally reached such a high level of skill on her instrument of choice, even the simplest of tracks sound delicious. The album’s title track, “Evolve,” consists of a catchy progression that sounds like it came from her backpack guitar. She flows out the lyrics: “I walk in stride with people / Much taller than me / And partly it’s the boots but / Mostly it’s just my chi.”
“Evolve” might be loose thematically, but perhaps that, itself, is the theme — looking and striving for where to go next. Oddly, one song that didn’t make the cut on this
album was “Swim,” which I heard performed at Bumbershoot Festival during the summer in Seattle. I am curious whether DiFranco didn’t find the song up to par, or if she
is merely saving it for another release. Given the early “Evolve” release this year, it’s likely 2003 may bring
yet another new DiFranco recording.
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