The other day I was stuck in a local traffic jam. In front of me was a Land Rover Freelander, and covering its rear light clusters were machismo-looking grids which served little or no real purpose. I wondered why superficial garnishing like this was used to spoil and otherwise attractive rearwards design. The superficial and meaningless dominates our life here in the UK and examples are legion – especially within the music industry. Take, for example, the practice of surrounding TV music performers with a bevy of beautiful men and women dancers, while the artist (more often than not) mimes the words to music that is obviously not worth singing for real. Then of course there’s the biggest pretenders (or liars) of all, the politicians, who, beautifully preened for TV, spout off rhetoric intended to make us believe they are worth voting for. It’s like we’re on a slippery slope down to nowhere; following trends, the media, advertising and celebrities like the most obedient sheep. It’s enough to make one puke.

So thank God for musicians that still remain independent of corporate influence, media hype and the mind-numbing superficiality of today’s dying world. Last week we witnessed Irish band the Frames tell it how it really is for them, with skill, passion and integrity. This week it’s the turn of Ani DiFranco, whose new album KNUCKLE DOWN slipped through my letter box, somewhat appropriately, the day after the first TV showing of Michael Moore’s movie FAHRENHEIT 9/11. You see, both people have looked on in despair at President George W Bush, his entourage and their dreadful influence on a once great country, while the USA public (unbelievably) voted the crooks back in again. But DiFranco has let that little matter hold for a while as she reflects on her life and loves. DiFranco is a unique and prolific music phenomenon. In 15 years she has released over twenty albums/DVDs on her own record label (with unit sales of well over 3 million), and still manages to take my breath away with each new release.

KNUCKLE DOWN is no exception and as per usual takes a few listens to appreciate the beauty and quality of DiFranco’s music, lyrics and performance. But one aspect always hits me immediately, and that is the most heart-stopping sound/production quality of her recordings. They have a depth and live ambience that is quite unique, and if I ever get to meet her the first question I would ask is, ‘How?’ Even on my down-market office sound system set-up it sounds stunning. Only one other recording artist comes close and that’s another special USA talent called Patricia Barber. Opening title track Knuckle Down is a metaphorical, jiving, jazzed-up song that bounces relentlessly along and is vintage DiFranco. But it is the second track, Studying Stones, which really grabs my attention. The opening country style guitar chords and accompanying string section hints at something very special about to land. It’s a hugely melodic, haunting and contemplative composition performed with enormous tenderness and emotion. Lyrically it’s up there with her best songs: “I am out here studying stones, trying to learn to be less alive, using all of my will, to keep very still, still even on the inside…” DiFranco is musical story teller supreme and track three, Manhole, is a prime example of her art: “I’m holding here a book, notable, but not the greatest, stolen for me by the latest, in a long line of thieves, and I’m about to drop it, down that manhole of memories…” The gently wafting country strings return with another album highlight in the immensely beautiful Sunday Morning. Backed by a folk/pop vibe, well-judged pace and another strong melody, DiFranco wistfully remembers lazy Sunday mornings in bed with her lover. During the song’s wonderful passage I was taken back to moments like this in my life, regretfully gone, never to be repeated…

As more songs reveal themselves, I am reminded in spectacular fashion just how good a guitarist DiFranco is, and the distinctive style of her playing. In fact, from this perspective I believe this to be one of her finest albums. Then a track arrives that is mesmerising in its simplicity and acute observational quality. Parameters’s backdrop is subtle instrumental sound droplets, while DiFranco recites her way through a moving and poetic song. “thirty-three years go by, and you loosen the momentum of teenage nightmares, your breasts hang like a woman’s, and you don’t jump at shadows anymore, instead you may simply pause to admire, those that move with the grace of trees…” It’s a song of mesmerising, haunting beauty, and it signals DiFranco is at her musical and poetic best.

KNUCKLE DOWN is a stunning album and one which finds DiFranco in a more mellow and reflective mood. And it is this that endears the album so much to me, and leads me to believe that it is her finest album yet. Fans will also love it, but I also feel that if you like singer/songwriters and you have yet to experience DiFranco’s magic, this may well be the place to start. Essential.

5/5