The glow of Christmas has burned out and we are left in the wake of wrapping paper, glossy gift bags, discouraging bank balances, family dysfunction and abdominal distention...Sweets, treats, more eats? No matter the time of year, it is crucial to distinguish when enough is enough. Take a moment. Take two. Stop. Reflect. Breathe. For some people, that moment never occurs. For others, it comes brute force - bankruptcy, childbirth, death, disaster, divorce - a stiff psychological uppercut with the power of Noah behind it. For Ani DiFranco on her latest, and near greatest, it is a powerful 1-2 punch packed with reflections and reawakenings brought forth by life's labyrinth of joy and tragedy: a)her first child, a baby girl and b)natural disaster and the increasingly rapid freefall of western civilization and the world beyond.
Beginning with the promise of a new year, "we vowed to allow each perfection that we could be", the title track gently crescendoes on the shoulders of muted brass, winding guitar and a slowed thumping march, eventually lifting off of gorgeously arranged strings, marimba and tubular bells. "Alla This", the immediate standout track is true to Ani's balls-tougher-than-leather character as she manages to stand up to every kind of religious, governmental and corporate ideology in five verses, backed up firmly by percussive thunder, a running guitar line, vibraphone and more stupendous strings.
The real shine of this record, besides the brilliant production and exceptionally talented personnel, is that a love story pervades every lyric, stop, start and pluck of sweet note. You can feel it in "Way Tight", a profession of adoration - "you are ever true, ever new in love, and I mean that in the best and worst way" - and surrender to a higher understanding of love - "and we get this crazy combination of everything and nothing right but we are way way way way...tight". Whether her narrative is musing on pregnancy - "Landing Gear", human stupidity and arrogance -"The Atom", challenge - "Round a Pole" or the misguided choices of youth - "Emancipated Minor" it is clear that in the ring of life Ms. DiFranco continues to be a prize fighting champion, this time demonstrating her deft aptitude for delivering the most tender love taps...The kind that knock you right off of your feet.
