Artist: Ani DiFranco
Album: Red Letter Year
Worth Buying: Yes, but she is going to make you work for it.
You will be interested in this album if you are a fan of: Alternative Folk / Singer Songwriters who are daring and don't care what you think of them
Tell me more: You know, I'm like most people. I like strong hooks in a song. A strong repeating chorus, a melodic hook, or a combination of both.
It takes repetition to know if you like a song, or piece of music. That is why we have the repeating chorus. By the time the song is done we have heard it about 3 or 4 times. A great chorus is what initially draws us in and keeps us going during the verse the first time we hear the song. It's what makes us listen again so that we can better get to know the intro, the bridge, and the rest of the song.
But in spite of this, I can hear an album like Jethro Tull's Passion Play or Aqualung, where almost nothing like this is present and still be entertained by what I hear. But it takes more work. It takes longer to absorb it.
This brings me to Ani DiFranco's latest album "Red Letter Year". For the uninitiated: Ms DiFranco is the Godmother of independent artists. She indie long before the Internet and CD baby made it possible for you to release an album without signing to a record label. Ani DiFranco created her own record label, released her own albums, and created her own career without the help of the mainstream media music machine. She built up her own career and a loyal following and when the labels came calling she said no and kept going on her own path. I have nothing but admiration for her accomplishments.
Red Letter Year is her 20th studio album. It features songs that for most part, don't have any repeating chorus's. But that doesn't mean there aren't any hooks. It just takes longer to realize them.
In the atmospheric opening title track I am taken down a dreamlike landscape to the lyrics of
new years eve we dropped mushrooms
and danced around the house
making music with everything that we found
incantation replaced resolution
and we vowed to allow each perfection
that we could be
and the goddesses sent word
that this would be a red letter year
they didn't mention how much shit was gonna change around here
There is no chorus to really speak of just a dream like narrative and as the song progresses I realize that this is a song about New Orleans and the disaster that struck there. It feels like it's being told from the perspective of someone who is having a dream about it after the fact. And at the end of the song, I am left unnerved by the closing lyrics
so let's pull up some barstools
and get ourselves a ringside seat
for one unnerving moment
they're gonna show the truth on TV
In the song Present Infant we are greeted with the ponderings of insecurity
lately i've been glaring into mirrors
picking myself apart
you'd think at my age i'd of thought
of something better to do
than making insecurity into a full-time job
making insecurity into an art
Once again there is no real chorus....or is there? midway through the song she reflects on the new experience of motherhood (two years ago she gave birth to her first child). At the end of the songs she sings:
but now here's this tiny baby
and they say she looks just like me
and she is smiling at me
with that present/infant glee
and i would defend
to the ends of the earth
her perfect right to be
Then at the end of the song the chorus hits
love is all over the place
there's nothing wrong with your face
love is all over the place
It is a wonderful chorus that hits you like a cool breeze. It is a great chorus and it takes to the end of the song to get there.....but it's worth the wait.
I think that I could deconstruct each song this way....but I think you get the point.
The first time I listened to this album, I was driving my car and I found my mind wandering away often. Later I found myself listening with earbuds and lyrics in front of me and the narratives started to sink in. Another time I was cleaning my car, and as I listened I found myself pausing and reflecting on the depth, and honesty of her music.
For me the strongest and most impacting song is also it's strangest. A song entitled the Atom. A hymnal like prayer to science.
the glory of the atom
begs a reverent word
the primary design
of the whole universe
yes, let us sing its praises
let us bow our heads in prayer
at the magnificent consciousness
incarnate there
Red Letter Year was a challenge for me to listen to at first, but it is already paying off for me with each continual listen.
What about the packaging: The packaging is beautiful. It comes in a digipak with a beautiful lyrics book that forces you to turn it around and around in order to follow along. The CD features a graphic of the moon and when you place it in it's sleeve it looks like a crescent moon.
Listen to samples and buy Red Letter Year in the mp3 format here
Get it in the CD format here (It's worth it for the packaging)
What if I am not ready to download the whole album? At this link you can get the track Emancipated Minor for free
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