Difranco knuckles down with latest

Because the "enlightened" individual is supposed to like feminist singer-songwriter-guitarists with liberal politics, I thought listening to Ani Difranco would be more like eating my vegetables than, say, getting swept up doing a line of musical crack-cocaine.

Despite my admiration for earlier female singer-songwriters Joni Mitchell and Tracy Chapman, I failed to ever really get into the '90s Lilith Fair, Sarah McLachlan and Paula Cole scene.

I thought, perhaps mistakenly, that they were a commercialized version of a poor man's Joni Mitchell.

Knuckle Down, Difranco's twenty-third release off her independent Righteous Babe label in the past 15 years, was co-produced with songwriter and performer Joe Henry.

The album still has a pared-down sound, despite the use of string bass, chamberlin, piano, sampler, percussion, violin and glockenspiel to complement Difranco's guitar.

The verdict on Difranco's new album? She's no crack-cocaine. Instead she grows on you slowly. She's also far cooler than most of the "confessional" female singer-songwriters to rise out of the '90s.

Even though she sometimes sings of bitter emotions, she doesn't whine, and she keeps her sense of humor with clever turns of phrase.

Her instrumental musical arrangements are more interesting, the folk-funk's got a sweet meandering groove that strays from straight-up guitar folk-pop and her lyrics are like strange little vignettes that float into your consciousness.

Her voice is low, breathy and lilting all at once. And if you've ever felt the emotions of her song"Sunday Morning"-"eggs frying.both of us reading/Sunday morning you're doing your thing/and I am doing mine..still it's Sunday morning I miss you the most"-then it's sure to give you a kick to the gut with romantic nostalgia when you listen to this track.

Sometimes the album is hit-or-miss; "Lag Time" in particular, well, lags. On some tracks the musical meandering seems to be going no where. "Modulation" was another of the better tracks. Difranco sings, "'cause neither of us was wearing helmets/ and our blood was everywhere."

Those lyrics are a sentiment on love that I like to hear. Happy Valentine's Day.