Unprecedented Sh!T, Ani Difranco, CD

2024 release. These days, every artist's album needs to have a story. The music can't speak for itself. But after 22 records, why can't Ani DiFranco's work speak for itself? Yes, her album is shaped by stories - ones about reproductive freedom, the double-edged sword of the pandemic, identity and ever-evolving belief systems that have shaped each of it's 11 songs. It was paramount to the folk-feminist hero that listeners not be saddled with preconceived notions while diving into her 23rd album Unprecedented Sh!t. "I believe there is a rhyme and a reason as to why these songs have come together in this way now and I want people to experience this album as a journey, a piece of art, without being influenced by a cacophony of surrounding narratives." The title Unprecedented Sh!t is not only representative of how much of a sonic departure the 11-track album is from Ani's other work, but also a political and social commentary on the current state of the world. "We find ourselves in unprecedented times in many ways, faced with unprecedented challenges. So, our responses to them and our discourse around them, need to rise to that level."