DiFranco excels as DIY folk poet
DiFranco s 21st release,
‘Educated Guess,’ is her
first solo album since
1991’s‘Not So Soft’
By Aaron Shakra
Pulse Editor
Humbleness exudes from Ani
DiFranco's music With 20 albums, her
own record label and a performance ca
reer that has transcended both borders
solo touring nearly two years ago, but
her latest record, "Educated Guess,"
marks her first studio effort reflecting
this change. This album, her 21st is all
DiFranco for the first time since 1991's
"Not So Soft," her second release.
In some ways, "Educated Guess" re
flects much of the same format — in
trospective, political songs, mixed in
with the occasional poem — as "Not
So Soft." But this is no throwback to
the past. She is obviously not the
same person she was when she re
leased that album 13 years ago. After
all, this is the singer who once said:
"We got egos like hairdos / they’re dif
ferent every day / depending on how
we slept the night before / depending
on the demons that are at our door."
Both literally and figuratively, DiFran
co has worn many hairstyles. And be
cause she has always been so incredi
bly honest from the beginning of her
career, she has become wise in her
recording years. These albums are
starting to resemble lifetimes.
Within the 14 tracks of "Educated
Guess" are songs and poems fascinated
with listening meditation and reflec
tion. This continues along the theme
that her previous release, "Evolve," set
into motion. On "Swim," the album's
first song, she sings the haunting open
ing lines "You keep telling me I'm beau
tiful / but I feel a little less so each time"
to a clicking, percussive guitar progres
sion. Later, the singer searches for soli
tude, as she bemoans: "I'm so far away
REVIEW
and decades,
it's amazing
this facet still
comes
through.
DiFranco re
turned to
Courtesy
Ani DiFranco will support her new album,“Educated Guess,” with an April show in Eugene.
from my shore / so far from what I
came here for."
In "Origami," she likens men to
"delicate origami creatures / who
need women to unfold them / hold
them when they cry," then succinctly
says: "But I am tired of being your sav
ior / and I'm tired of telling you why."
One wonders which experience in life
led DiFranco — in this song, the self
proclaimed all-powerful amazon war
rior — to write such lyrics.
The album's title track is an em
brace and acceptance of the human
family, with DiFranco delivering the
lyrics: "And I'm learning how to say /
that I'd be happy either way / with
your love" in a smoky voice. The light
est song of the bunch is easily the
poppy "Bliss Like This." With her hap
pily singing, "I said Venice / you heard
Vegas / now 1 say either way / baby
let's go," this tune could easily find a
home on most radio stations.
One musical highlight is "Compa
ny, " a track that pointedly croons over
the tensions between intimacy and
alienation in a relationship. A ram
bling, banjo-like guitar line and
DiFranco's tumbling bass punctuates
the space between verses, such as:
"What's the point / of all this pointless
proximity / if you won't talk / take me
for a walk / through a little story."
Later, she asks, "Why should 1 keep
you / if you won't keep me?"
In her tradition of previous music
poems "Self Evident" and "Serpen
tine," this time around listeners get
"Grand Canyon," a requiem for the
feminist revolution. In the opening
lines, she says. "I love my country / by
which I mean /1 am indebted joyfully
/ to all the people throughout history
/ who have fought the government to
make right." Later, she proclaims the
feminist revolution is underplayed in
the present day and asks, "Why can't
all decent men and women proclaim
themselves feminists / out of respect /
for those who fought for this?"
DiFranco has always been a poet,
and her return to straight-up spoken
word gives the songs on "Educated
Guess" much needed breathing
room. The album opens with a short
piece called "Platforms" and there are
two additional poems — "Clip clop
clack" and "Literal" — included in the
liner notes that aren't on the album.
On another album, DiFranco said
"half of learning how to play is learn
ing what not to play"; this idea seems
to apply to her words as well. Her po
ems are short, succinct and pointed,
and her lyrics have such a keen aware
ness of line breaks that they read
beautifully even without music.
This album's production is all
DiFranco, save for the final mastering.
She recorded it in two different stu
dios and used vintage, eight-track reel
to-reel recording equipment. All in
struments, background vocals and
mixing were done by the folk singer.
The result is a sound endearing in its
homemade quality, complimenting
the songs rather nicely. DiFranco even
found a way to incorporate happy ac
cidents into this recording—the rain
can be heard in the background of
"Grand Canyon," for instance.
"Educated Guess" was released
Tuesday and by now has probably
completely permeated the record
stores of Eugene. DiFranco returns to
the McDonald Theatre on April 6; the
show is already being heavily adver
tised, so buying tickets now is advis
able if you want to be there.
Contact the Pulse editor
at aaronshakra@dailyemerald.com.
Plath's talent overshadowed bv death
Sylvia Plath used a thesaurus. I say
this not only because it's blatantly
obvious the word "ablution" doesn't
come off the top of your head when
writing a poem, but also because it
has been written about by others, in
Aaron Shakra
The poet’s tree
eluding Plath herself.
In regards to the former article I
wrote discussing Basho — a wander
ing poet, traveling the land in order
to cast away his earthly attachments,
paying reverence and respect to all
beings in his path — Plath comes
across as an opposite kind of crea
ture. She's a modern writer (born
1932, died 1963), grounded in no
tions of self and fascinated with her
relationships with men, and often,
society's norms.
Yet, this almost sounds like an in
sult. So what is the appeal here? A
common response I hear to this ques
tion is that it's her ability to be bitter,
relentless and absolutely unforgiving
in her poetry. And in this confronta
tion with subject, the reader doesn't
want to turn away. At the heart of all
of this is a search for self-definition.
It's like everything put on the page is
wavering between being defined and
undefined. Consider the opening
lines of her poem "Mirror" in which
Plath proclaims: "I am silver and ex
art. I have no preconceptions / What
ever I see I swallow immediately / Just
hk\.u^ vv —i-xt.
Look for Special Event
coming this month
rfe* to Rainbow Optics!
>-.v.'v.n' .
.1... „ in
as it is, unmisted by love or dislike. I
am not cruel, only truthful —
But of course, the mistake might lie
in trying to say Plath is any one thing.
Suicide is clearly an idea that Plath
gained a mastery over; with words she
painted poems such as "Lady
Lazarus" and her novel, "The Bell Jar."
Yet, describing Plath by her suicide of
ten overshadows what else she wrote
about. Which was a heck of a lot. But
because suicide was her ultimate end
and is such a sensational subject, it
unduly receives more than its fair
share of attention.
"Sylvia," the Plath biopic that ran
briefly in December, made the same
mistake, only in a different way The
filmmakers oddly chose to begin with
and then focus the entirety of the film
on her relationship and marriage to
the late Ted Hughes, England's Poet
Laureate. The film tried to sell this
Turn to SHAKRA, page 12
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