Slow piano and guitar fill DiFranco’s album
‘Reprieve’ speaks to listeners through poetic lyrics and sounds
By Caite White, senior writer
Posted on October 19, 2006

Ani DiFranco is careful, taking a slow crawl into the first song of her latest CD, Reprieve. When it begins, it sounds almost like it should be ending.

“So that’s how you found me,” she sings in the first line of “Hypnotized,” speaking only after finger-picking guitar scales, then a slow piano cues her to start. When she finally does, it’s gentle and unassuming. And, one will find while listening, that’s the best way to describe every song on the album. A personal favorite, “Nicotine,” begins with “I hate you sometimes/but I love to be your queen/You are my muse/got me smoking nicotine.” At best, it’s unhurried and sexy. At worst, every word is true.

With her signature syllable-swilling, DiFranco proves she’s still the master at throwing more sounds into one beat than can logically fit. She does this in nearly every song, with the exception of the title track, “Reprieve,” which she speaks to the reader as if we were privileged enough to be sitting in on her private poetry reading. 

Not only are the songs on the album interesting and complex, but the actual album is, as well. The tree on its front was taken from a photograph of an actual tree in Nagasaki after the city was leveled by an atomic bomb. Ani didn’t take the photo herself, but it inspired her to write a poem and caused most of the emotion in Reprieve.

DiFranco’s self-proclaimed “folk-punk” music never disappoints and this album is no exception. Her messages are political, but they’re somehow still private and humble. Her 15th solo CD, Reprieve proves DiFrano still has something to say. And she won’t sit down until we hear every last word.