Ani DiFranco: Evolve : Music Reviews : Rolling Stone

Album Reviews

Pop tunes have never been Ani DiFranco's strong suit or intention. From her punk-folk beginnings to her recent jazzy jam-band excursions, the still-indie boho icon excels at energetic streams of observant, often strident lyrics. Along the way, she's accumulated considerable acoustic-guitar skills, and her picking has grown ornately angular as her vocals have softened and amassed subtleties.

This aesthetic journey has alienated longtime fans missing the concise, angry Ani while attracting newbies charmed by her chops. Evolve speaks to both camps with a succinct summation of her experimental side, here focused and more refined. "Second Intermission" adds deftly arranged, harmonically complex woodwinds, and the feisty title track simplifies, heading back to DiFranco's free-spirited, nearly scatting cry and tense guitar. More inviting melodies could help this mellowed firebrand evolve even further.

BARRY WALTERS
(From RS 918, March 20, 2003)