Ani DiFranco
Red Letter Year (Righteous Babe)
By Erica Phillips
Published: October 10th, 2008 | 9:00am
The question on the mind of every Ani DiFranco fan anticipating Red Letter Year’s release is obvious: will the new little tyke in Ani’s life change her music? The answer is a resounding “yes.” Petah Lucia DiFranco Napolitano, born January 20 of last year, has decidedly made a mark on her singer-songwriter mother’s style. Never has this righteous babe created a more soft and joyous album.
Gone are the gut-wrenchingly painful love songs, replaced by cupcake-sweet ballads (“Way Tight,” “Smiling Underneath”) that serenade the album’s first side. In both of these songs, DiFranco croons about “having a good time” over music that is relaxed and composed with care. Though the lyrics seem simple at times, it is hard to be disappointed; for the first time possibly ever, DiFranco sounds euphoric, and it’s tough not to be happy for her.
The quiet jazzy feel of the album is balanced out by the creative poetics of the title track, which bears musical resemblance to such classics as “Napoleon” (Dilate) and “Pulse” (Little Plastic Castle). The standout, though, is “The Atom” — an intellectual musing about humanity’s place on Earth, in which DiFranco strums a simple riff over and over with a quintet of strings, multiple percussionists, and a vibraphone building dramatic tension behind her. It’s our girl’s signature raw beauty at its most mature. “Someone fashion me a pulpit,” she demands, “I have been called to engage / With the maniacal heretics / Of the nuclear age!”
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Issue #35
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