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Monday, 14 August 2006 02:58

RIYL: Dave Mathews Band

Just as New Orleans residents found themselves picking up the pieces of the devastating Hurricane Katrina, so too did Ani DiFranco. Following the monumental disaster last summer, DiFranco took what was left of the album in progress to New York, and crafted Reprieve, a sultry, analytical, and poetic recount of political turmoil and social loss. Reprieve is a testament of sorrow, surveillance, and, ultimately, a nation's survival.

DiFranco fans will find the unmitigated passion we've come to expect from the left-leaning folk singer's past offerings of perspective, yet also see an underlying sadness that even the most introspective of lyric can't fix. The control has shifted from lovers lost and feelings abashed and the perpetual "what." We now find these same introspections addressing the "why" and "why not." Yet, Reprieve is by no means a concept album. Simply stated, the album is a glimpse of what's been going on in DiFranco's mind during these tumultuous times on personal, cultural, and global fronts. From the opening track "Hypnotized," to the spoken-word title track which finds Difranco stating, "What all of nature gave birth to...terror took in a blinding ray," the lines between the personal and the political fade. What's left is a woman who asks the same questions we all have right about now.

Friends of DiFranco will relish in this passion; they will storm the stereo and diligently sing the words. And, perhaps, herein lies the cathexis, while never fixed. Rather, it's a formed camaraderie of force between listener and artist. DiFranco's message is clear, if not always concise. Conceptually, Reprieve is a masterpiece, a Dixie Chicks-esque "fuck you" to what we've been handed. And while the hooks and quotes may be hard to find, the relentless passion and seamless flow remains throughout the album. Ani DiFranco's just might be the voice we've been trying to muster, and dying to hear.