Perhaps the public's perception of Fiona Apple can be summed up by the unplanned poll I conducted among my friends, with myriad and respectable music tastes, when I told them I was reviewing her new CD. Four out of five people said, "She sucks!" The fifth said, "Isn't she crazy?"
Hmm. With that, and my vague remembrances of her waif-ish, bathtub-dwelling image à la "Criminal" and her ranting, 90-word-album-title phase (1999), I began listening to Extraordinary Machine.
I must admit that the first three times through, I hated it. The vaudevillian piano sounded like a calculated retro throwback; the electronic touches seemed contrived. It took me a few listens to stop holding her persona against her and actually hear the music. But once I did, I realized that Fiona Apple is like a neurotic Norah Jones. Her album is moody, it's slow, it's sexy. You can really listen to it or blissfully ignore it as background music as one song slips seamlessly into the next without pretense or flair. It's actually ... good.
An earlier incarnation of the album was recorded with Jon Brion, who was the composer for I Heart Huckabees, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Punch-Drunk Love and Magnolia -- the last two of which were directed by Paul Thomas Anderson, Apple's ex-boyfriend. Brion's influence is obvious on the tracks he produced, especially "Waltz (Better Than Fine)." Apple displays optimism in the title track and resignation in "Oh Well" -- "What wasted unconditional love/On somebody/Who doesn't believe in the stuff/Oh well."
With "Parting Gift," she offers a heartfelt, mature breakup song. It's not whiny (hello, emo!), it's not young (paging Ashlee Simpson), it's not ostentatious.
Not every track on Extraordinary Machine is a winner: "Get Him Back" sounds like a slightly up-tempo "Criminal," with lyrics that would annoy any grammarian, e.g. "He give me the gouge and he take my glee/Now every other man I see/Remind me of the one man who disappoint me." Also, the vamp of "Better Version of Me" is so blatantly similar to Aimee Mann's "Momentum" (from Magnolia, natch), I'm tempted to call it a rip-off.
To revisit the poll, does Fiona Apple suck? I'm going to say no. There are more important things than incessant originality.
Furthermore, Extraordinary Machine is written, performed and produced very well. Apple shows obvious growth in her songwriting, and let us recall that she is only 28 years old and this is only her third album. If she continues to record an album once every five years, on average, she could have a very long, successful career. But is she crazy? She certainly seems well-adjusted in comparison to her old post-adolescent super angst.
So, Fiona haters, make the switch and download a few tracks from iTunes. You might end up convincing a few friends that this Apple isn't as bad as you thought.
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