Ani Difranco
Dilate (1996)

review by: Matthew Scrivner
Date: 5/16/01

Dilate punches you in the stomach with a whisper.

And it's strange to me that an album can be so angry and yet so gentle and careful and beautiful at the same time. I mean, normally the musical impulse of this kind of anger is punk: loud volume, distortion pedals, raging drums, screaming vocals. This album contains the frustration normally equated with the punk genre but uses none of those musical conventions to express the frustration.

Instead we have Ani and her acoustic guitar, singly quietly and carefully, each chord plucked with gentle intention to the background of soft, muffled drum loops. It's worthy of note that she plays all of her own instruments here: guitar, bass, percussion. She does all of her own drum programming or drum playing. She does all of her own recording too. On her own record label. Riteous Babe Records.

Much of the earlier Ani stuff that I've heard might be described as 'thrash-folk' or 'acoustic punk.' But the sound of Dilate is lush and now, all the intensity is focused directly into composition of the songs, rather than spilling over and splashing us with the red paint of rage. This leaves the songs musically complex, harmonic, and more folk sounding, also leaving much of the frustration to the lyrics. As Ani sings words like "F*%# you and your untouchable face / F*%# you for existing in the first place" she does so quietly, almost as if she is a little afraid of her own emotion.

This album is fresh, totally devoid of the conventions of both punk, and the angsty soft-rock blah of female musicians like Sarah Mclaughlin or Jewel. It's honest, and extremely well written. Worth the purchase new if you can find it. It seems more and more, the major record stores are carrying fewer and fewer artists on independant labels. But that is another review entirely.