ANI DIFRANCO
Knuckle Down
Righteous Babe Records
· Down but not out, Ani modulates her paradigm in righteous time.
So here we are again, yet another release from the ever-prolific Righteous Babe herself, Ani ("Not a Pretty Girl") DiFranco. Back for another unflinching look at the world in all its fucked-up splendour, the singer-songwriter-guitarist braces herself for the worst and comes across with some of her best material in years. Fusing folk, rock and spoken word into one mighty fist, DiFranco takes aim at her inner demons and delivers a bare-knuckled blow against hypocrisy and self-pity.
Stepping into what she describes as her "cowgirl alter-ego riding on her bar-room bull," she digs deep into her past, resurrecting the spirit of grassroots activism that her mother originally instilled in her. As "Studying Stones," the name of Knuckle Down’s second track, suggests, she turns over old memories and discovers the life’s blood of her art. Pausing to acknowledge the changes that have led to her present success, she melodically confesses "I guess I’m pretty different now considering" on the suggestively titled track "Manhole." Crooning and strumming have replaced much of her hard-fingered string plucking, but the emotional portent of her poetry remains as powerful as ever (exemplified by the sometimes disturbing nakedness of such songs as "Modulation," in which she confides, "You were my modulation/ so that’s what you will always be/ we took each other higher/ we set each other free/ course, neither of us were wearing helmets/ and our blood was everywhere/ and when the morphine kicked in later/ the censors threw their hands up in despair."
Obviously, DiFranco has not lost that wry sense of irony that we’ve come to know and admire – that subtle twist of the knife that turns words back upon themselves, piling up the connotations and duplicitous intentions to her own artistic advantage. But don’t despair, not all of these songs are about failed relationships, pain, suffering and social injustice. In contrast to the isolated solo effort that resulted in her previous release, Educated Guess (2003), the 12 catchy tunes on Knuckle Down steer clear of American politics, and instead turn their primary focus inwards and upwards. Enlisting several friends, collaborators and cohorts, DiFranco fleshes out her latest release with piano, samples, melodica, glockenspiel, electric guitar, percussion and more. The result is a chain of skilfully interwoven short stories that relate her life story with humour and heart.
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