Fiona Apple finished recording her third album in 2003. With her bluesy, cracking voice and two critically acclaimed albums under her belt, Apple was poised to take her spot as one her generation's most heartfelt songwriters.
Instead, as seems to be her track record, things didn't go according to plan. Apple disappeared from public view, and Epic Records shelved her record for lack of a marketable single. Her online fanbase pushed for the album's release, and earlier this year, her fans staged a Free Fiona protest outside Epic Records headquarters in Manhattan.
Last month, a Seattle DJ got hold of the album and began playing the leaked tracks in regular rotation. Since then, all of the album's tracks have leaked online. They are readily available for download on fan sites and are some of the hottest files on p2p networks. Sony/Epic has been silent about the situation, apparently deciding that ignorance is the best policy; in a public statement, they claim that Apple has not yet submitted her album.
Regardless, Apple's first album in six years, Extraordinary Machine, is here, and it's worth the wait. Continuing the musical complexity she showed on her sophomore effort, When the Pawn..., Machine ups the use of stringed instruments, and the classical elements add a sense of grandeur to Apple's tormented instrumentals. Apple also employs percussion to great effect, and the thumping backbeat on "Get Him Back" streamlines her slurred vocal style into a tight arrangement.
The album is brazenly noncommercial; nearly all of the songs are arranged with depressing, minor chords, and several of the tracks possess an under-produced minimalism. Cello pizzicato, flutes, an oboe and chimes lend the title track an eccentric, antiquated feel, and "A Better Version of Me" forms a call-and-response between Apple's strained vocals and a high-pitched keyboard wail.
Even the most archetypal tracks on Machine defy pop convention to some extent. "Oh Well" is interspersed with melodic trumpet solos, and "Waltz" starts out with a classic piano/voice combination but quickly evolves into a sped-up ballroom-carnival hybrid.
Machine's lyrics also stand up to scrutiny. On the title track, Apple half-sings with precociousness, "I still only travel by foot/And by foot, it's a slow climb/But I'm good at being uncomfortable/So I can't stop changing all the time." Apple's willingness to incriminate herself while lashing out at others gives her words a sense of discomforting honesty, and the rawness of her delivery invokes the listener's admiration, not pity.
Clearly, Apple didn't create this album with platinum ambitions, and according to producer Jon Brion, she doesn't care about its sales. Extraordinary Machine is an emotional, uncompromised effort aimed at the indie sect and Apple's loyal fanbase, and a proper release of the LP would benefit from an underground swell of support.
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