| · "Is there anything scarier than an open-mike poetry reading?"
They say that goldfish have no memory, but the same cannot be said of Ani DiFranco fans. The faithful will recall that it has been over a decade since the charming folkstress released her last solo album, and 2004’s Educated Guess is as solo as they come. A truly DIY diva, DiFranco wrote, performed, recorded and mixed this 14-song epiphany at home on her eight-track recorder. Returning to her always-visible roots, DiFranco takes the urban coffee house approach to this album, drenching her audience in hep-cat poetry and hard-fingered guitar licks.
While the austere plainness of her approach may disappoint those who gravitate towards her more potent "plugged in" material, the eyebrow raising ire of her lyrics is still vivid. "I know men are delicate origami creatures, who need women to unfold them/ hold them when they cry. But I am tired of being your saviour, and I am tired of telling you why." OK then….
DiFranco’s distinctively disjointed, colourful and often insightful rhymes carry listeners from the Velvet Underground to the Grand Canyon, as her emotive expression reaches its ultimate destination – a love letter to America.
Swathed in self-effacing disclaimers, the inner tensions of her political subconscious steer the latter half of Educated Guess on to a collision course with the harsh reality of what she refers to in the song "Animal" as: "America the drastic/ that isolated geographic that’s become infested with millionaires. And I think when you grow up surrounded by wilful ignorance that you have to believe that mercy has its own country, and that it’s round and borderless." Amen, sister!
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