Artist: Fiona Apple
Title: The Idler Wheel
Label: Epic
First things first, fans of Fiona Apple should seriously be commended. After all, in our increasingly A-D-D, Smartphone-obsessed world, it takes some extraordinary patience to wait seven (!!!) years for a new album.
Clearly an artist who doesn't mind taking her dear, sweet time to get what she wants to say just right, even risking people forgetting about her altogether, The Idler Wheel, which I've shortened considerably from its original title by the way, is exactly what longtime listeners have grown to expect from Fiona.
Let's just say, long before Taylor Swift was dreaming up a soundtrack for her own diary entries, Fiona was doing the same—but with a far sharper edge.
Now 34, Fiona's music still documents her life's journey in a way that's theatrical, beautifully rendered and chock full of the whole spectrum of human emotion—hers, naturally.
Clocking in at a taut 42 minutes, The Idler Wheel still manages to cover plenty of diverse musical territory. Thoroughly retro at times with almost a Billie Holiday feel on "Left Alone" and a nod to the smoky R&B of Nina Simone on "Valentine," she seamlessly serves up more current sounds as well as a flair for stirring melodies, dramatic pauses and songs with a more stripped-down quality to round out the effort.
And Fiona wouldn't be Fiona without some poetic turns of phrase that leave you wondering what exactly inspired them, right? Unlike the aforementioned Ms. Swift, it's not always easy to figure out who—or what—she's singing about, which makes listening all the more intriguing.
Whether she's musing how "the idler wheel is wiser than the driver of the screw and whipping cords will serve you more than ropes will ever do" or offering up a lyrical self portrait of how she's "a still life drawing of a peach," one thing's for sure: In the often cookie cutter world of pop stars, she's a true original like the doodles you'll find in the album's liner notes.
*This Review First Published 6/28/2012
