Ani DiFranco is, without a doubt, one of the most active singer/songwriters in music today. Since her 1990 debut, she's put out about 20 other releases on her very own label. Needless to say, she's a very hard worker and an even better writer. Over the years, her albums have featured a vast array of other instruments to help transform her unique and sometimes political thoughts into musical form. Educated Guess, on the other hand, is much different. It's been said that the album's overall theme seems to simply follow her life, causing her personal views on a "certain topic" to be less noticeable as opposed to her albums. However, when the tracks do focus on these views, you'll know.
Returning to her folk-punk roots, she has made this album as independent as she possibly could. Educated Guess is pretty much just a girl and her guitar. Not one song on the album features any other person's accompaniment - even down to the background vocals, this album is pure Ani.
The album opens with a simple spoken-word rhyming poem, and leads into one of the album's best tracks; "Swim." The guitar in the song is definitely interesting, and the vocals are simply catching and memorable. Some other noteworthy tracks are "Origami" and "Animal," mainly for the same reasons as the former. But while it may have these songs that will most likely become instant classics, there's also plenty of mediocre to less-than-mediocre tracks throughout Educated Guess. Thus continues the trend that pretty much all of her albums seem to follow: a few classics, a bunch of decent songs, and a small dose of mediocrity.
Some songs that fit into this decent category are both "Bodily" and "Raincheck." While they are, indeed, good tracks, they tend to get a bit repetitive. The rest of the album, in my eyes, falls into the final category, making this album not exactly what I was hoping for.
Overall, the album is an interesting departure from her previous works in recent years. It's great to see such intimacy, independence, and creativity go into one's music, but it's a different case when the final result is, at times, overly simplistic. Mainly what Educated Guess lacks is variety, something that the album's predecessors were rich with. So, if you're into Ani, by all means check this out. While it isn't quite as interesting as the others, her well-written lyrics and well-crafted music make up for the faults.
It's a good album. Just don't get bored.
