After three years away from the UK, singer-songwriter Ani DiFranco returns with appearances at Glastonbury (25 June 2017), and Birmingham Town Hall (30 June 2017).

Her return ties in with the release of her new album, Binary (out 9 June). Released via her own Righteous Babe label, the 11-track collection features guest appearances from Bon Iver's Justin Vernon (Zizzing), and finds the outspoken songwriter continue to combine the political with the personal, and explore such topics as pacifism, pro-choice, and how we define ourselves.

What, for you, are the key tracks on the album?
Certainly the title track – Binary – that encapsulates a lot of the ideas that are the core mediation, the core of the record, ideas that are evident on several songs: my thoughts about the binary nature of the universe, which is not discordant to feminist theory; the idea that relationships are primary to existence … it’s more feminist to think of relationships first, and that’s a theme that echoes throughout the album – certainly in Play God and Alrighty. The last track, Deferred Gratification, is an ode to people who serve others, in whatever form that can take. Play God and Alrighty are very much reflections on patriarchy, which is something I’ve been doing for a while. That’s the elephant in the room … patriarchy exists whether we acknowledge it or now. If we’re not going to acknowledge it, we’re not going to achieve that world of peace that we so long for.

Although much of Binary seems to fit in with the mood of 2017, it was written pre-US election. Do you think that it would have been a different album if you'd made it post-election?
Thankfully and not by accident, no. I’ve found that ... I’ve written hundreds of songs, I started at 14 so I’ve been at it for 30 years, and what I’ve learnt is that – and I’m not alone in this – is that songwriting involves a degree of premonition, which has been mind-blowing. I’d write a song, I don’t know – quote/ unquote – what it’s about, and then it happens ... woah! I’m tapping into the sub-consciousness. That shows how much we know that can be below the conscious, we tap into that knowledge beyond thought. It also shows an example of quantum reality, that time is not linear. All of time is now, the past and future are just an illusion. When you write from a deep place, time is irrelevant.

There are a fair few guests on this album, including Justin, but also violinist Jenny Scheinman (Madeleine Peyroux, Lucinda Williams), keyboard player Ivan Neville (son of Neville Bros Aaron), legendary funk/jazz saxophonist Maceo Parker (James Brown, Funkadelic), and Gail Ann Dorsey, from David Bowie's band.
Yes! Awesome guests! This is my 20th record and one of the great parts about being around for so long is that I have such awesome friends, talented friends, beautiful friends, who I can call up. Some of them are in my band, like Todd [Sikafoose, bass] and Terrance [Higgins, drums], but also Ivan Neville [keyboards] who I’m playing with more and more, who brings something special with him, and violinist Jenny Schienman, who is a stunning conduit to the beyond!

One idea I had at the outset of making this record was to call on my awesome friends, see if they’re busy, to see if they grace my new songs. I can crawl out of my shell more with this record.

Do you think that this could lead to you collaborating more on your next record?
Yes, probably. My journey in music has been solitary, as a necessity. I started out [on my own] in Buffalo, New York … I’ve always been slightly envious of people in bands, who have that camaraderie, and of those who are in ‘scenes’ – every monkey wants to be part of something! I was on my own as a little kid, and I’ve established a community over the years, which is something I revel in as much as possible.

Ani DiFranco appears at Birmingham Town Hall on Friday 30 June 2017.

By David Vincent