Righteous Babe Records, owned and operated by DiFranco, is releasing her latest album tomorrow. The eleven tracks on "Up Up Up Up Up Up" range from mournful to lively, from personal ballads to political lamentations. The music has a spontaneous sound and an intense message.
The members of DiFranco's 1997 touring band give a live-stage feel to the album, using more studio improvisation than the 1996 album "Dilate" or the 1997 album "Little Plastic Castle." The surreal song "Hat Shaped Hat" is almost thirteen minutes of live-jamming sound.
While DiFranco sings to only traditional bass and guitar in "Everest," most of the record is a unique blend of instruments. The energetic rhythm of new band member Julie Wolf on wurlitzer, organ and accordion blends with DiFranco's trademark percussive acoustic guitar.
For variety in the album, Difranco throws a banjo, a water cooler, and a wailing electronic toy into the mix. The result is creative music indicative of DiFranco's irreverent personality.
DiFranco's honest, upbeat lyrics in "Angry Anymore," ("I just want you to understand/ that I'm not angry anymore"), seem contrary to her reputation as an irascible, righteous babe. However, for DiFranco, the song is about forgiveness in personal relationships, and she insists, "my anger is intact, alive and well inside me."
Instead of lashing out at media misrepresentation of her image, DiFranco sticks to what she calls "business as usual." Having survived the tumultuous path of success since her first album in 1990, she has nothing left to prove.
In "'Tis of Thee," "Trickle Down" and "Come Away From It," DiFranco speaks to problems of race, class and the war on drugs; part of her message is that "we have to help ourselves and each other to not fall prey to drug addiction even when it seems like the most logical and informed way of dealing with our little ugly lives."
DiFranco illustrates the self-destruction of society in her lyrics ("My country 'tis of thee/ to take shots at each other on the talkshow tv/ why don't you go ahead and turn off the sun").
Ani Difranco has moved far from her beginnings as a solo guitarist. Righteous Babe Records is no longer housed in an intimate office; shows are held in stadiums instead of coffeehouses; and her music changes and grows with each album. However, as DiFranco continues to expand her possibilities, her passionate poetry remains intact, and her audience is invited to grow "Up Up Up Up Up Up" along with her.
