Seven years have passed since we’ve heard something new from
Fiona Apple, but she has returned in a big way with her fourth LP The Idler Wheel… (Full name - The Idler Wheel Is Wiser Than the Driver of
the Screw and Whipping Cords Will Serve You More Than Ropes Will Ever Do). Fiona began recording the album in secret
sometime after the release of 2005’s Extraordinary Machine in order to
give herself a casual, pressure-free environment to create. It’s built from a totally acoustic base, but
the simple foundation of piano, vocals and drums, sounds much bigger when added
together.
The Idler Wheel is an isolated
album, often featuring nothing more than Fiona and her piano. This means she has to make a lot from a
little. She’s able to accomplish this
time and again here, and songs like
‘Werewolf’, ‘Valentine’ and ‘Every Single Night’ deliver an emotional
power surge that most musicians could never dream of with such a limited studio
set up. ‘Werewolf’ is particularly
pretty with it’s twinkling piano melody and Fiona’s chorus of ‘But you were
such a super guy 'til the second you get a whiff of me, we are like a wishing
well and a bolt of electricity’ playing out over the sounds of children on a
playground.
Long-time Fiona drummer Charley Drayton handled percussion for the
album and his touches are most noticeable on ‘Anything We Want’, ‘Daredevil’
and ‘Regret’. The drums are never the
center of attention but, as with the rest of the instrumentation on The
Idler Wheel, it’s the subtle moves that add up to a greater whole.
It’s somewhat remarkable that Fiona is still in the game after emerging
in the mid-90’s. While many rising young
stars often flare out before they reach adulthood, she has been immune to any
kind of burnout. This is probably
because she plays the game by her own rules.
Unlike almost every musician around today she steers clear of social
media and the Internet in general, deciding instead to go about her work in
secret. There’s something untainted
about The Idler Wheel, it’s definitely the work of Fiona Apple, but it’s
unapologetically unique and hard to classify.
Grade: A-
0 comments
Post a Comment