Di Franco puts her soul on display

Singers/ Songwriter's latest offering strips away the experimentation and puts passion front and center

By Ryan Smith

It may have taken a few years and a couple of less-than-perfect albums for Ani DiFranco to come to grips with national stardom, but if there remained any doubt concerning her capabilities as a musician, she has surely silenced them with her latest album Educated Guess.

In the years following her critically acclaimed live CD, Living In Clip, DiFranco has struggled to balance satisfying her anything goes attitude with the expectations of those who propelled her into the limelight.

Making a transition from her characteristically singer/songwriter folk style, DiFranco courageously experimented with computer sampling, brass ensembles and at times what appeared to be full band rock compositions.

Though appearing to have had all the makings of a fresh and intelligent collection of music, the burden of expectation clearly hindered the intimate aspect of her passionate and at times controversial lyrics.

On this new release, DiFranco discards the glossy look of an artist who consciously caters to a mainstream audience and immerses herself in the kind of artistic freedom found only in the writing of a personal diary.

DiFranco sets the mood of the album right away with the first track, Platforms, which is nothing more than a 17 second poem questioning her own ideas about the world and the role she plays in it.

On the title track, DiFranco continues to explore the reasons that compel people to sit by complacently accepting the norm. Using witty turns-of-phrase and beat-poet rhythms reminiscent of the ‘50s and ‘60s era writers, DiFranco takes a moment to urge listeners to use her music as a catalyst for self-reflection and self-improvement.

The lyrics contained in the proceeding tracks conform much to the same free-form spoken word rhythms that are most recognizable of her work. While her lyrics beautifully radiate the feeling of a conversation between friends, sitting casually in the corner of a coffee shop somewhere in the middle of America, it isn’t exactly the kind of CD you put in the car stereo and sing to with your buddies.

And though DiFranco’s lyrics may not possess you to thrust your head up and down to the words, her guitar playing will at least make you drum your thumbs against the steering wheel. The quick, percussive style finger picking that is DiFranco is enough to transport you on a journey across scenic rolling hills and end up on the streets of some busy city, panning the sidewalks and alleyways for something or someone that you have longed to know more closely.

As a result of owning her own record label, Righteous Babe Records, writing, singing and playing everything on the album, Educated Guess is a very personal and emotional confession of her consciousness that, by the end of the album, you understand completely.

But a word of caution for the average emo-rock listener’s interested in picking this one up, the depth of her lyrics and the broad range of music on Educated Guess may leave your collections at home sounding slightly shallow and sophomoric.