"Knuckle Down" ('05) va fatto rientrare in quel "nuovo corso" che ha caratterizzato la discografia della "piccola (punk)folksinger" di Buffalo dopo la separazione dalla band che l'aveva accompagnata fino al buono (ma, a mio avviso, non eccezionale) "Evolve" di un paio d'anni prima. Un nuovo corso per certi versi più intimista ed essenziale, fatto di atmosfere pacate e sfumate, che, se da un lato rimane orfano di quelle virate funky-soul che avevano caratterizzato alcune delle precedenti produzioni, dall'altro esalta ancor di più quel binomio inconfondibile di chitarra e voce che ha fatto la fortuna della giovane cantautrice.
Si badi: né "Knuckle Down" è un disco integralmente acustico (visto l'apporto di Tony Sherr alle chitarre elettriche), né la Di Franco rinuncia del tutto al gusto e al tatto di altri musicisti (menzione doverosa per il batterista/percussionista Jay Bellerose). È proprio in tale quadro, anzi, che emerge il fondamentale apporto del contrabbasso di Todd Sickafoose, "presenza" spesso impercettibile, disposta a rimanere il più delle volte nelle retrovie del pentagramma, eppure imprescindibile contraltare per i (quasi) monologhi chitarristici della Di Franco. A cambiare è piuttosto la "dimensione" stessa del disco, incentrata più sul calore di composizioni dal profilo apparentemente basso (ma ricche di feeling), che non sul groove delle ritmiche o sulla ricchezza degli arrangiamenti.
Nasce così una musica che sembra fatta per essere sfogliata come un album di fotografie, canzoni come fermo immagini di emozioni, stati d'animo e ricordi. Talvolta bastano poche note, arpeggi sussurrati, spazzole che accarezzano il rullante, e un violino (l'eccellente Andrew Bird) su cui regolare il respiro: note scritte su un aeroplano di carta da (in)seguire con gli occhi, mentre viene sospinto dal vento ("Studying Stones"). Note strappate a forza dal ventre di una cassa armonica, mentre un piano lontano, quasi in disparte, insiste per voler danzare ("Callous"), o un timido sgocciolare di armoniche che riempiono il silenzio ("Parameters"). Ma c'è anche il tempo per lasciarsi coinvolgere da episodi più blueseggianti ("Modulation", "Seeing Eye Dog", "Minerva") o frenetici (su tutti l'opener "Knuckle Down", con quella chitarra balbuziente, maltrattata e schiaffeggiata, manco fosse uno strumento percussivo), o per raccogliere un po' della gioia che pervade gli episodi più solari ("Sunday Morning").
Ma, ancor più che la musica, è la voce della stessa Ani a risultare evocativa e coinvolgente. Versatile al punto da trovarsi a proprio agio non solo nel pathos intimista del recitativo "Parameters", ma anche nel sarcasmo risentito di "Manhole" ("But you can't fool the queen, baby Cuz I married the king"), davvero capace di renderci spettatori partecipi di racconti e frammenti di vita, ora dolorosi e sofferti, fatti di incomprensioni e cinismo, ("Callous"), ora "tiepidi" e accoglienti, intrisi della serena nostalgia dei ricordi di una bambina, persi sulla strada tra la scuola e la chiesa ("Paradigm"). Una voce che sa vibrare e ipnotizzare, come la fiamma di una candela che riscalda, senza scottare. Illumina quel tanto che basta per poter guardarsi allo specchio, ma con gentilezza, tenendo in ombra le rughe.
Elenco tracce testi e samples
01 Knuckle Down (04:34)
That's just my cowgirl alter-ego
Riding on her bar room bull
Dripping with the sweat of irony
As the cowboys whoop and drool
Shooting glances at the mirror
To see if her scar is showing
She is truly going nowhere tonight
Lecherous old lady wanna-be
Much too young and shy
Flailing her whole life
Just thinking she can teach herself to fly
Vehement romantic
Frantic for forever right now
But forever's going nowhere tonight
Sick of goading her self-loathing
She thinks, I think I'd better leave
'Course whiskey makes me smarter
And I'm happy as can be
But please excuse me darlin
It's not you
It's me
And there's a dusty old dust storm on mars, they say
So tonight you can't see it too clear
Still I stood in line to look through their telescope
Looked like a distant ship light
As seen from a foggy pier
And I know that I was warned
Still it was not what I hoped
Yes I know that I was warned
Still it was not what I hoped
I think I'm done gunnin to get closer
To some imagined bliss
I gotta knuckle down
And just be ok with this
I'm gonna knuckle down
Just be ok with this
'Course that star struck girl is already someone I miss
I swear some stuff you just see better from further away
And I think I communicate best now, the less I say
And I can't dance if the band can't play
And the vibe is going nowhere tonight
'Cuz somewhere between Hollywood and its pretty happiness
And an anguish so infinite it's anybody's guess
Is a place where people are all teachers
And this just one long class
And that ass will get you nowhere tonight
There's a dusty old dust storm on mars they say
So tonight you can't see it too clear
Still I stood in line to look through their telescope
Looked like a distant ship light
As seen from a foggy pier
And I know that I was warned
Still it was not what I hoped
Yeah I know that I was warned
Still it was not what I hoped
I think I'm done gunnin to get closer
To some imagined bliss
I gotta knuckle down
Just be ok with this
Gotta knuckle down
Just be ok with this
'Course that star struck girl
02 Studying Stones (03:53)
I am out here studying stones
Trying to learn to be less alive
Using all of my will
To keep very still
Still even on the inside
I've cut all of the pertinent wires
So my eyes can't make that connection
I am holding my breath
I am feigning my death
When I'm looking in your direction
'Course numb is an old hat
Old as my oldest memories
See that one's my mother
And that one's my father
And that one in the hat, that's me
It's a skill I'd hoped to abandon
When I got out on the open road
But any more pent up emotion
And I think I'm gonna explode
There's never been an endeavor so strange
As trying to slow the blood in my veins
To keep my face blank
As a stone that just sank
Until not a ripple remains
I am high above the tree line
Sitting cross legged on the ground
When all of the forbidden fruit has fallen and rotted
That's when I'm gonna come down
'Course numb is an old hat
Old as my oldest memories
See that one's my mother
And that one's my father
And that one in the hat, that's me
It's a skill I'd hoped to abandon
When I got out on the open road
But any more pent up emotion
And I think I'm gonna explode
03 Manhole (03:45)
I'm holding here a book
Notable, but not the greatest
Stolen for me by the latest
In a long line of thieves
And I'm just about to drop it
Down that manhole of memories
When I realize it doesn't bother me
Like love's mementos usually do
And I look up to see who's different here
The latest me or the latest you
Course, you're the kind of guy who doesn't lie
He just doctors everything
Chooses some unassuming finger
And quietly moves his wedding ring
Who rewrites his autobiography
For any pretty girl who'll sing
But you can't fool the queen, baby
Cuz I married the king
And maybe it was I who betrayed his majesty
With no opposite reality
Like a puddle with no reflection
Of the sky or the trees
But after my dreaded beheading
I tied that sucker back on with a string
And I guess I'm pretty different now
Considering
I kissed you on the street that night
On the far side of four
But I didn't like the taste
In my mouth or yours
And ignoring the persona you wore for my benefit
For once I had the balls to call it
Just call it
But a lesson must be lived
In order to be learned
And the clarity to see and stop this now
That is what I've earned
And maybe it was I who betrayed his majesty
With no opposite reality
Like a puddle with no reflection
Of the sky or the trees
But after my dreaded beheading
I tied that sucker back on with a string
And I guess I'm pretty different now
Considering
I'm holding here a book
Notable, but not the greatest
Stolen for me by the latest
In a long line of thieves
And I'm just about to drop it
Down that manhole of memories
When I realize it doesn't bother me
And heartache not so dire
Cuz I looked up to see integrity
Finally won over desire
10 Paradigm (04:33)
I was born to two immigrants
Who knew why they were here
They were happy to pay taxes
For the schools and roads
Happy to be here
They took it seriously
The second job of citizenry
My mother went campaigning door to door
And holding to her hand was me
I was just a girl in a room full of women
Licking stamps and laughing
I remember the feeling of community brewing
Of democracy happening
But I suppose like anybody
I had to teach myself to see
All that stuff that got lost
On its way to church
All that stuff that got lost
On its way to school
All that stuff that got lost
On its way to the house of my family
All that stuff that was not lost on me
Teach myself to see each of us
Through the lens of forgiveness
Like we're stuck with each other (god forbid!)
Teach myself to smile and stop and talk
To a whole other color kid
Teach myself to be new in an instant
Like the truth is accessible at any time
Teach myself it's never really one or the other
There's a paradox in every paradigm
I was just a girl in a room full of women
Licking stamps and laughing
I remember the feeling of community brewing
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