up up up up up up

Ani DiFranco loves music, maybe more than anyone else making music today, a fact that is apparent in every song on her 12th album, Up Up Up Up Up Up.

While DiFranco’s enthusiasm for what she does is undeniably infectious, that alone is not enough to have made her one of music’s great success stories this decade. However, that joy, coupled with her melodious vocals, her storyteller’s approach to writing and her underrated guitar playing (often zealous while still maintaining an air of restraint), creates an indescribable feel to her music that is unlike any other today.

From the elegant Wurlitzer strains of the gritty opening track, "’Tis of Thee," through the closing number, "Hat Shaped Hat," a mammoth 13-minute jam with lyrical overtones reminiscent of poet Shel Silverstein, Up… blends her youthful glee with a poise and dignity that is light years beyond most of today’s chart-topping female singer/songwriters.

In between the disparate numbers that bookend the 11-song disc are new DiFranco gems like the energetic "Jukebox," the lovely "Come Away From It," the touching and warm "Angry Anymore," a song that everyone will feel empathy with and take hope from, and the title track.

While Up Up Up Up Up Up is not the best work of DiFranco’s career, it is a perfect encapsulation of why more and more fans are drawn to her with every new record.

Steve Baltin