Let me first say that I am a straight man. But yes, I like Ani DiFranco. I have enjoyed many of the albums she recorded throughout her career, most of which I have found in the last few years. Her newest contribution, Knuckle Down, is a fitting contribution to her long musical catalogue.
If you don't know Ani DiFranco, here's the short story: she's a female singer/guitarist who writes, plays, produces and distributes music on her own label, Righteous Babe Records. She also happens to be bisexual, and a sometimes-icon for both female empowerment and political activism.
On this album, DiFranco utilizes the full gamut of her range, both vocally and musically. Songs such as "Manhole" and "Knuckle Down" show off both her musical talent and her vocal range, featuring her usual playful guitar rhythms and vocal intonations. But DiFranco's greatest growth appears in her style -- far gone are the ska and rock influences of her early career.
Though most of the album should not be dubbed jazzy or calm, the jazz elements she introduced on 2003's Evolve obviously influence her most recent work. The folksy rhythms and melodies are more mellow, easier listening and less aggressive.
But, like any Ani album, Knuckle Down's most dynamic quality is DiFranco's words and what they reveal about this songwriter. Over the last several albums, Ani has shifted away from her standards of love -- or the lack thereof -- featured in her early work. Songs from earlier in her career such as "Both Hands" and "Untouchable Face" poignantly and gracefully showed the pain of missing or fading love.
But Ani's new songs show maturity. She has begun to look at herself in a more comfortable tone, to subtly ask for audiences, not force her image on her listeners. For example, no longer do we hear about "leather bras and rubber shorts," rather Ani writes about her life, shares the changes she sees in the world around her and, for the first time on her albums, sings a great deal about her family.
In the spoken-word piece "Parameters," Ani warns about complacency and the dangers of imagining yourself to be invincible or even safe. She sings of the emptiness of the night and the misery of loneliness in "Recoil." In the simple, moving lyrics of "Paradigm," Ani wistfully writes about her parents and the ambiguity of life, the paradox that supersedes every fake ideal of perfection.
In the title track, Ani sings, "that star-struck girl is already someone I miss," and I have to agree with her. The Ani I was introduced to -- full of anger and love and pain, singing out about the throes of youthful passion and angst - has replaced these emotions with the somber and mature self-exploration she shows her current audiences.
But the music is still easy to listen to and inspiring. So, like she sings in "Knuckle Down," I, for one, think I'll "just be ok with this."
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