THE SPIRIT OF ANI

The indie-folk singer-songwriter reflects on spirituality and more.

This book by DiFranco and musician and author Coyle Rosen is, in the words of the latter, “a look inside the spiritual, intuitive, and creative dimensions of Ani’s work and presence,” presented as a series of conversations between the two. Coyle Rosen is a superfan of DiFranco, which she makes clear in the book’s introduction, writing, “Throughout the decades, Ani’s art has remained a rejuvenating, alchemical touchstone, one whose meaning for me has transformed with my own spiritual evolution.” In the conversations, DiFranco and Coyle Rosen discuss the former’s spiritual beliefs, which are vague; the words “consciousness” and “ego” each make frequent appearances. She does seem to believe in something like an afterlife, telling Rosen, “I feel like I’ve always understood that death is not an end and that, just like everything in the whole freakin’ universe, it came from somewhere, and it goes to somewhere, and it pretty much does that infinitely.” DiFranco provides some occasional interesting reflections on her career, including the backlash from some of her fans, who had assumed she was a lesbian, after she married a man, as well as some of her own heroes. Readers’ enjoyment of this book will depend on how they react to sentences like “This hum of energy is metonymic of Ani’s broader existence as a conduit for electrifying words, songs, vibrations, frequencies, and spirit.” A subset of DiFranco’s more New Age-y fans will likely find this delightful; for everyone else, it will likely read as self-indulgent and inexplicable.

A bizarre book that might still mean a lot to a very specific group of die-hard admirers.