Been spending some QT with the new Fiona Apple record lately. Her very signature bouncy piano sound, funky lyrics and determined sounding vocals are all there. I like it in a familiar kind of way, but not as much as her last record.
Why? Because she sounds too content.
I must admit, I really liked super angry Fiona a lot better. She was the Fiona who was ravaged by the highs and lows of young love where there is no logic involved. The Fiona who would make mountains out of molehills; tragedy out of teen love. I would turn her on full blast while driving down the street after getting mad at my boyfriend. It was silly, but a good kind of silly. Now she just sort of sounds like a grown up. That is disappointing to me.
Also, this record seems to have a bouncy show tune feel to it. Quite a few of the songs I can see her dancing in a top hat, wearing a sequined bow tie and doing a tap number all Fosse style. I understand why they didn't want to release this one. It is good, but it isn't going to make anyone close to the kind of money the last one made.
At least it is well produced and polished in a way only Jon Brion is capable of. For that it is worth owning.
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3 comments:
totally agree.
while i really enjoy "parting gift," when the pawn is so much better. and i agree: it's because she is content. i'm not content--why listen to someone who is? (the exception, of course, is fiona)
Jon Brion didn't end up producing the album... although he was involved early on and his versions of the songs were leaked to the Internet several months back. I love Jon Brion, and I actually like some of his versions better than the final ones. I agree that "When The Pawn..." is better, but I still think "Extraordinary Machine" is pretty solid.
REALLY! Wow! I didn't even look at the liner notes, just assumed it was JB. Thanks for pointinbg that out, I guess I should pay better attention! :-)
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