Ani DiFranco – Unprecedented Shit
To start – let me admit. This isn’t music I ever found interesting. But I’m old school. Forgive me. That out of the way I can assess this with a deeper ear. It took me a while to warm up to the late Amy Winehouse – but, I knew she had a voice & lots of style. Tony Bennett knew it too. I’m still trying to understand the likes of P.J. Harvey & Liz Phair genres.
However, while much of that music fails to stimulate my senses what Buffalo, NY Grammy winner Ani DiFranco (all instruments) has always managed to do is impress me with her determined originality through her consistent creativity, attractive vocal style, intonation, phrasing & tone.
Is she for selective tastes? Yes. But that doesn’t diminish the effort. 11 well-sequenced pieces make up Ms. DiFranco’s Unprecedented Shit (Drops May 17/Righteous Babe Records/38:00) produced by BJ Burton. Even the spare instrumentation as applied shows ingenuity & she sings in an engaging style.
“Boots of a Soldier” is intense. Ani projects character with her near-juvenile reading. But it’s a mature tune & there’s little mediocrity. This comes stylized despite a lack of full-blown horns & percussion production. Each tune is well-crafted. Her expressive voice (“More Or Less Free”) is distinguished even when applied to some weird percussive textures. Her music digs deeper than many artists dare to. Not everything will grab everyone’s ears, but her narratives are smart & fluent (“New Bible”) with lots of finesse.
Ani’s not exactly a Joni Mitchell-type but she’s equally challenging & navigates musical territory with a disciplined evocative procession through each song. It’s not all produced to provide a groove or dance step where an adhesive feeling matters more. This is Ani’s 23rd LP — a departure from her usual reserve. It draws on social & political commentary but it’s not a slap-in-the-face approach.
You don’t have to always agree with her point of view to appreciate what she embodies in her music. Ani through her art taps into controversial topics but traverses the path toes first & not plodding through with heavy boots. Her unfussy melodicism grazes anxiety, complex feelings, the failure of incarceration & other thorny issues. She won’t come across as sweet & emotional as the late Judee Sill (“The Kiss,” & “Jesus Was a Crossmaker”), or travel gravel roads as gutsy as Lucinda Williams.
She can — but her forte here works always to her advantage. Great cover art too.
Highlights – “More Or Less Free,” “New Bible,” “Boots of a Soldier,” “You Forgot To Speak,” “The Thing At Hand” & “The Knowing.”
Add’l musicians – Andy Stochansky (hand-drum), Terence Higgins & Jharis Yokley (drums), Todd Sickafoose (electric piano), Joy Clark & Lilli Lewis (voices).
A 12pp lyric insert is included. Cover photo courtesy of Danny Clinch. CD @ Bandcamp + https://anidifranco.com/