I’ve never listened to Ani DiFranco before. Back in high school she was always a name I’d hear (usually while wandering by the art studios or the drama department), but nothing more. Her new album “Educated Guess” seemed like it might be a good introduction to her music, as it is completely written, performed, recorded, and produced by DiFranco herself.
DiFranco is a folk singer who has been releasing solo albums for almost a decade. While she dabbles in bass and keyboards on this album, her expertise lies in two instruments: voice and guitar. Her voice is raw and expressive, not saccharin-smooth like pop singers, and it fits her gritty music. Her guitar playing is wild and untamed, filled with dissonant plucks and slides.
In “Educated Guess” Ani harps on topics that are important to her: politics, feminism, self-image, and beauty. She sounds off about government in the spoken-word “Grand Canyon,” defining patriotism in her own words: “I love my country / by which I mean I am indebted joyfully / to all the people throughout its history who have fought the government to make it right.”
In “Origami” she sings about her disdain for relationships: “I know men are delicate origami creatures / who need women to unfold them… but I am tired of being your savior.” If you think these lyrics sound wordy, you’re right, and on the whole the songs sound like poems forced over music.
While this album does get across emotionally, it fails musically. DiFranco’s sound is completely unpolished. This is somewhat understandable, as she recorded the album herself, without anyone telling her to change things. But with more time in the studio, and a producer to help out, she could have been guided toward a cleaner and more accessible album.
Without this direction, the record becomes an exercise in self-indulgence by someone who thinks she knows best, and damned what anybody else thinks.
And the music itself is nothing to get worked up about. One guitar and one voice can do a lot, but DiFranco’s playing and singing, joined sporadically by back-up instruments, seem to stay in a very restrictive place. To her credit, Ani breaks free on some of her songs — the slow and complex “Bodily,” where Ani solos on two different guitars and bass at the same time, and my favorite, “Bliss Like This,” with its funky riffs and addition of bass and keyboards.
But while her overdubbed guitar and back-up vocals are kind to the ears and definitely interesting, ultimately they don’t add anything in quality. The gritty sound is supposed to make the album seem more “real” and unproduced, but it leaves it sounding simply very unprofessional.
Ani DiFranco is interesting to listen to. Her raw folk rock is something you don’t hear much any more, especially in mainstream music. Listening to “Educated Guess,” you feel like you’re really getting to know the singer behind this music. But if you’re more interested in good music in and of itself, the new album is a disappointment. For die-hard fans, it’s an intimate must-buy. But as someone who doesn’t normally listen to DiFranco, I have to say, “Nice to meet you, Ani… but I’ve got to go.”
Jake Christie can be contacted at [email protected]