Unprecedented Sh!t is Ani DiFrancos 23rd album. It signifies an era of change for the songwriter. She branched out and wrote a memoir in 2019, No Walls and the Recurring Dream, and authored her first childrens book, The Knowing, illustrated by Julia Mathew, in 2020. She also appeared on the Grammy- and Tony Award- winning Hadestown by Anais Mitchell, playing the role of Persephone on Broadway -- a character she voiced on a 2010 album of the same name released on her Righteous Babe label. Unprecedented Sh!t offers a startling, restless range of new sonic dimensions and possibilities while underscoring the sophistication in her songwriting. For this set, she worked with BJ Burton, who produced one of her favorite albums (Bon Ivers 22, A Million) and has worked with Alicia Keys, Taylor Swift, and Low. This 11-track LP comprises songs written in 2011 and 2022 originally penned for musicals, soundtracks, childrens books, and other outlets. As collaborators, DiFranco and Burton worked primarily separately, sending files and tracks back and forth online. The albums sonics arent linear, but almost kaleidoscopic, even in sparse mixes. Opener "Spinning Room" is fueled by gently pulsing electronic keyboards, treated vocals, and guitar, with lyrics that reflect depression and its treatment. "Virus" (about the pandemic) offers a distorted cello vamp before filthy, aggressive electric guitars (a la Nine Inch Nails) kick in with looped hand percussion and a bassline, all in two minutes. Lead single "Baby Roe" is an anxious folk number with a loose, funky bassline in a mix that eventually explodes into an industrial-tinged EDM crescendo. Its based on Joshua Pragers The Family Roe: An American Story about the history of abortion. It also introduces all of the characters involved in Roe v. Wade, including the adult child of Norma McCorvey (aka Jane Roe). The title cut joins electronically enhanced call-and-response vocals in a mix that balances post-punk and industrial with an infectious melody. Its lyric contrasts the evolution of a loving, brave human heart as it encounters infection and disease and eventually shrinks into self-protection. "New Bible" is a mutant folk-blues based on a wandering guitar vamp, eventually answered by a Wurlitzer and percussion. DiFranco details what new codes to live by in the 21st century. That song is answered by the languid folk-blues of "Boots of a Soldier," giving voice to her 60s-era military boots. "The Thing at Hand" is a bluesy, electronic paean to ego-cutting non-duality and sentience. "The Knowing" is a languid lullaby penned for her book, and celebrates the uniqueness of each being. Unprecedented Sh!t easily marks a new phase recording by DiFranco. She and Burton present her work in an illuminating context that invites close listening, without a hint of compromise. ~ Thom Jurek

Rovi