While Ani can be fiery, passionate, and often disturbing, it is her intelligence and vivid lyrical paintings that make her offerings so gratifying. Up up up up up up, her twelfth solo album, is awash in the Wurlitzer, but never slim on guitar and emotion.
“Tis Of Thee” is a fire no hydrant could extinguish. The song cascades to a slow, somber end with lyrics that are nothing less than sobering. “My country ’tis of thee/ to take shots at each other on the primetime TV/ why don’t you just go ahead and turn off the sun/ ‘cuz we’ll never live long enough/ to undo everything they’ve done/ to you”.
“Come Away From It” is a jazzy arrangement with a verse or two to put you in your place. “Angel Food” is a soul-filled jam in pursuit of vocals that dodge from one ear to the other. Ani seems distant in a few songs. “Jukebox” and “Trickle Down” run Ani’s vocals through a processor, making her sound ominous, but removed.
This album seems to be a bit of a coming out. Ani sets aside the verse-chorus-verse formula and finds time to really expand musically. In both “Angel Food” and “Hat Shaped Hat”, she carries on to a spirited climax. A Banjo fills “Angry Anymore” to the brim. Ani’s songs always seem to be therapeutic for her and to those of us who are really listening to what is said.
Ani’s work never seems quite finished, yet it always exceeds expectation. She says it best in “Up up up up up up”: “Up up up up up up/ points the spire of the steeple/ but god’s work isn’t done by god/ it’s done by people”. Amen.
+ charlie craine
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