Protest music is synonymous with the 1960s. That’s what most people from our generation seem to think. However, on her newest album “Reprieve,” which was released August 8, folk singer Ani DiFranco blows this idea completely out of the water. I used the term water for the specific reason that much of DiFranco’s album seems to revolve around this life-preserving liquid, providing her music with a deep connection to all that is natural.

In one telling line on the album’s second song, “Subconscious,” DiFranco uses the entrapment of water as a metaphor for the manmade technology craze that runs rampant in our society by singing, “plastic bottles of water/sealed windows, forced air/gazillions of cell phones/beaming through my hair.”

Hearing these words may cause listeners who have an interest in the folk music from past generations to compare DiFranco to Paul Simon, a folk-rocker whose career originated in the early 60s with his partner Art Garfunkel. Just as Simon has admitted to doing countless times, DiFranco acts more as a storyteller than as a musician, bringing a message with true meaning to our country.

The album’s sound lends itself perfectly to this idea with sparse and sometimes almost non-existent instrumentation. The title track is composed mainly of DiFranco speaking her lyrics like a poem recited by a beret-wearing beatnik in a small cafe. A minimalist guitar line accompanies her story of the horror of Hiroshima, Japan after the effects of the atomic bomb as she sings, “it’s sixty years later/near the hypo-center of the a-bomb/I’m in the middle of Hiroshima/watching a twisted old eucalyptus tree wave/one of the very few lives that survived and lives on/remembering the day it was suddenly/thousands of degrees in the shade.”

The song goes on to relate the idea of the patriarchy that exists in our society and the oppression that women sometimes feel. The composition cuts straight to the core, leaving no doubt as to what DiFranco is trying to say.

Beautifully creative words abound on this album and DiFranco continues to awe the listener with lines such as “you are a rare bird/the kind I wouldn’t even mind/writing in the margins of my books,” in the song, “In The Margins.”

The theme of sparse instrumentation flows throughout most of the albums thirteen tracks with bass, acoustic guitar, various synthesized sounds, and nature calls being the predominant support for DiFranco’s vocals. However, she makes her voice into an instrument all on its own by putting slight bends and curves onto certain notes. She did this on the song, “Subconscious,” where she ends with the line, “and I know where I’m going/and it ain’t where I’ve been,” with a slightly higher pitch to emphasize her words.

The themes of protest, deep connections to nature, self-awareness and minimalist instrumentation mesh into a soothing yet hard hitting combination of songs that represent a woman who is not afraid to speak her mind about our society and our world. The albums tasteful and calming manner lends itself to easier listening and will not offend those looking for a truly talented vocalist/composer.

Bridget Jones can be reached at [email protected]