Oxford's oldest student newspaper

Independent since 1920

Album Review: Ani DiFranco

Maturity’s an interesting concept. Put it one way, and you’ve become wiser, mellower, better able to accept all life has to offer. Put it another way, and it just means you’re settling into pipe, slippers and musical pigeon-hole.

One of folk’s most prolific and vocal performers, Ani Difranco has always been better known for her overall album creations, rather than for one unforgettable single. Some outpourings have been better than others; albums of the late ‘90s tended towards the monstrous, with different elements unpleasantly mated to create jarring sounds.

Red Letter Year marks something of a return to form for the American, with her voice and the backing band forming a mostly harmonious whole. Here maturity has had a positive effect, mellowing her sound, creating a cheerful, warm album that still incorporates some interesting experimentation.

While there are undoubted highlights, such as the uplifting ‘Smiling Underneath’ and punchy ‘Alla This’, individual songs flow into one another in a pleasant auditory stroll. Only the pointless last track, an ill-conceived band reprise, strikes a jarring note.

Her lyrics, however, veer between the shameful and the inspired: lazy, derivative anti-Bush rhetoric sits cheek-by-jowl with breathtakingly elegant expressions of love and clever, incisive metaphors.

Ultimately, though, this album has been shaped by Difranco’s new motherhood, and it shows; this is music for former firebrands of the early 90’s, now settled with kids, but unwilling to let go of their music and politics.

Although Difranco keeps some sharp lines for her old adversaries, her real emotion is reserved for the personal sphere. Perhaps she’s more honest that way, but I feel maturity has blunted her edges.

Two stars

Check out our other content

Most Popular Articles