Derk Richardson on Evolving from the perpetual wince reaction:
'AND I MUST admit / Today my inner pessimist / Seems to have got the best of me," sing-speaks Ani DiFranco in the middle of "Serpentine," the 10-minute epic song-poem on her new album, Evolve. And if that doesn't resonate in the sour marrow of your own culturally/politically induced depression, then continue duct-taping your windows, programming your TiVo to catch the Joe Millionaire sequel, and talking amongst yourselves while the clear-cutting of everything from Head Start to pension plans continues unabated outside your little plastic castle. Meanwhile, DiFranco will try to figure out how to cope when "Pavlov hits me with more bad news / Every time I answer the phone."