By Hilary Ingoldsby

Ani Defranco has done it again. After 13 albums under her independent Righteous Babe record company in the last decade, Defranco still finds new ways to bring her personal experiences and ideas on society to life in her latest release, Revelling and Reckoning.

The two-CD set shows different sides of Defranco and is bound to be popular with all folk music fans. Revelling will appeal to those who enjoy Defranco's more upbeat sound while Reckoning will be listened to on repeat by those who enjoy Ani's softer side.

Revelling starts out with trumpet, flute, saxophone, percussion, an accordion and of course different guitars backing up Defranco as she sings and almost raps at times the five-minute love song, Ain't That the Way.

The Revelling tracks live up to Defranco's finger-picking reputation with quick and tantalizing riffs that include most frets on the guitar. Aside from the musical exploration always delivered by Defranco, powerful lyrics are never far behind.

In the song Marrow, Defranco asks, "Where was your conscience/Where was your consciousness / And where did you put all those letters that you wrote to yourself but could not address?"

The next track, Heartbreak Even, has added instrumentals as well as happy overtones with less idealistic lyrics such as "And I try not to let my emotions show/ But it ain't a balloon I can just let go/ It's an ice cream cone dripping in the sun/ Sticky hands/ Sticky arms/ Sticky situation."

Reckoning finds Defranco doing just that. Songs such as Your Next Bold Move express Defranco's political views in an emotional and beautiful way. Poetically and politically, Defranco leaves no questions as she sings "Coming of age during the plague of Reagan and Bush/ Watching capitalism gun down democracy/ It had this funny effect on me I guess."

Emotional confessions can also be found on Reckoning as well as solo guitar songs. In the song Grey, Defranco slowly strums her guitar and sings personal words like "And I feel right at home/ In this stunning monochrome/Alone in my way."

With her poetic honesty and emotional melodies Defranco rarely disappoints fans. Revelling and Reckoning will keep this righteous babe's tradition.

NW
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