Rating: NNNN
In recent years, everyone’s favourite feminist folk-punk icon went off the rails a bit, turning out album after album of middling funk silliness. Luckily, she’s found her footing again with a disc that falls somewhere between the stark ferocity of Puddle Dive and the melancholy atmospherics of Dilate. Perhaps co-producer Joe Henry (the first person DiFranco’s allowed behind the console) helped make Knuckle Down a triumphant return to form, a set of superbly crafted, deeply intelligent tunes that range from DiFranco’s inimitable percussive steel string attack on the title track to frail domestic bliss ballads (Sunday Morning), from the chamber folk of Studying Stones to the guttural blues of Seeing Eye Dog. Label protege Andrew Bird helps out with some stunning violin wizardry and eerie whistles, and Henry keeps the studio trickery to a bare minimum.
