Fiona Apple - Extraordinary Machine
Released: March 2005
Artist: Fiona Apple
Guests: Jon Brion
There’s something about March that makes it a good time for shelved albums to find their way to the public. Four years after Dave Matthews Band’s unreleased masterpiece The Lillywhite Sessions exploded onto the internet, Fiona Apple’s long awaited, much talked about follow-up to her 1999 sophomore album When the Pawn… has finally seen the light of day.
As every Fiona fan knows by now, Fiona finished this album in late 2002/early 2003 but Sony deemed it uncommercial and shelved it. This excuse come despite a platinum selling artist that almost singlehandedly started the ochestral pop revolution carried on today most famously by Rufus Wainwright. (Ironically, both covered the Beatles “Across the Universe” for soundtracks; Rufus’ appears on I Am Sam while you can find Fiona’s version on Pleasantville) While Rufus has been given the freedom to go deeper into his theatrical “baroque pop” with the recent Want One/Want Two, Apple has been victim of her own pop succcess.
The hits “Sleep to Dream” and “Criminal” from Fiona’s debut album helped catapult her to stardom, which she immediately attacked in her famous MTV VMA acceptance speech in 1997. Fiona’s erratic behavior on tour and public relationships/breakups with the likes of David Blaine and Paul Thomas Anderson. With the release of the 90-word titled 1998 album When the Pawn…, Fiona did little to sway public opinion that she was a bit of an eccentric. What makes Fiona and her music so intriguing is this sense of danger and uncertainty.
Extraordinary Machine carries forward the themes of Fiona’s previous albums: anger and frustration with past lovers, a touch of self-hatred/self-doubt and the quest to make it all go away. Sonically, the album in many ways resembles a poppier version of Tom Waits’ recent Real Gone, with unpredictable industrial instrumentation layered over orchestrated pop. This sound owes a lot to producer Jon Brion, best known for his film work (I Heart Huckabees, Magnolia) and production duties for Aimee Mann, Rufus Wainwright and others. Brion and Apple collaborated previously on When the Pawn… and that contiguity shows here.
For Fiona fans, the most familiar sounding song here will probably be “A Better Version of Me,” a somewhat optimistic mid-tempo track that is an obvious bridge to her earlier work. While it clearly lacks the pop hooks of Tidal or the dark, jittery beauty of her second album, Fiona Apple’s Extraordinary Machine cements itself as another great album in the career of one of pop music’s most enigmatic personalities. The album stands out as a work that deserves the opportunity to reach a wider audience. Hopefully someday soon Sony will release it; until then, you can download mp3s here or hop on this Torrent link [links removed]. Special thanks to freefiona.org for helping build awareness for this hidden gem.
Grade: A-
Similar Tastes: Rufus Wainwright, Jon Brion, Rachael Yamagata
Other Albums: When the Pawn…, Tidal