Album Review: The Idler Wheel...

The Idler Wheel Is Wiser Than the Driver of the Screw and Whipping Cords Will Serve You More Than Ropes Will Ever Do by Fiona Apple (Clean Slate, Epic, 2012. 43 minutes)

Born in New York City, Fiona Apple is a singer-songwriter and pianist. Apple first gained notoriety for her debut album, Tidal, winning a Grammy Award for Best Female Rock Vocal Performance. The Idler Wheel… is Apple’s fourth studio album.

Instability 

I can’t say I’ve known a truly unstable person and I want to be careful about labeling Fiona Apple as such—I don’t know her and it would be rude to assume. But, I imagine friendship with such a person would be a roller coaster. Words might be volatile; you’d walk on pins and needles. If this person told you they were trustworthy, would you trust them?

Again with the reminder that I don’t know Fiona Apple, I’ve found her lyrics to signify someone with a screw loose. I love her honesty but she seems like an erratic person.

In her latest release, The Idler Wheel…, Apple continues to write with a bare honesty unmatched in the world of pop music. Melding jazz, alternative rock, and some new electronic flourishes, The Idler Wheel… might be Apple’s best.

A Fight with Her Brain 

The album opens with “Every Single Night”, a jazzy single with Apple’s neuroses in full effect. She sings,

“Every single night / I endure the flight / Of little wings of white-flamed / butterflies in my brain / These ideas of mine / Percolate the mind / Trickle down the spine / Swarm the belly, swelling to a blaze / That’s where the pain comes in / Like a second skeleton / Trying to fit beneath the skin / I can’t fit the feelings in”

Through all of this tension both musically and lyrically, Apple sets up an aggressive chorus where she croons,

“Every single night’s a fight with my brain”

Everything about The Idler Wheel… unsettles. In particular, “Jonathan” stands out with its tense piano chords and boxy counter melody. Nothing about the song adds comfort to the listener.

Similarly, “Left Alone” waddles along with an unsteady chord progression. The song has energy but it feels like a tipsy sort of energy—the kind right before a blackout after a heavy night’s drinking.

The Outside Looking In 

In “Periphery”, Apple continues expressing her doubts about life and promotes herself as an outsider. She sings,

“Oh, the periphery / I lost another one there / He found a prettier girl than me / With a more even-tempered air / And if he wants her, he should get her / Cause I think he thinks she’s worth it / And maybe they’ll move from the periphery / Buy themselves their own plot of land / And I’ll care in a different capacity / I’ll just be hoping he makes a good family man”

Acting the jilted lover, Apple sings with her heart on the page and the music funnels her feelings into an agitated state.

With Music to Match 

The end of the record, however, shines the brightest. With odd percussion and even stranger chord progressions, “Anything We Want” continues the theme of unsettledness.

Over a discordant-then-resolved progression, Apple ponders,

“My scars were / Reflecting the mist in your headlights / I looked like a neon zebra / Shaking rain off her stripes / And the rivulets / Had you riveted / To the places that I wanted you to kiss me / When we find some time alone / And then we can do anything we want”

Perhaps most impressively, Apple composes a catchy chorus over the strangest chord progression. While the first two chords represent standard pop, Apple runs off the charts using augmented chords and strangely placed sevenths.



In sum, the song feels catchy-yet-off.

Is Everything Alright? 

Finally, Apple concludes The Idler Wheel… with “Hot Knife”. With syncopated a capella lines, she sings about a volatile relationship between male and female where each person is butter to the other’s hot knife. Lyrically, the most interesting part of the song occurs toward the end of the tune. Built over a cinemascope of lyrics, Apple suggests,

“You can relax around me”

Perhaps she means it in an ironic way but I find it fascinating how Apple spends the entire span of The Idler Wheel… introducing the listener to the wide scope of her neuroses and yet the last thing she tells us is that we can relax around her.

In her liner notes, on stage, and in interviews, Fiona Apple has presented herself as quite the iconoclast. In The Idler Wheel... she continues to promote this notion, yet she asks us to relax around her? Such a turn in lyrical narrative interests me. I continue to enjoy Apple’s art and if I must relax to hear more, relax I shall.

The Idler Wheel… is an excellent contribution to Apple’s discography—perhaps even her best. If you like singer-songwriters, difficult music and lyrics, or interesting characters, check out Fiona Apple’s The Idler Wheel...

Verdict: 4.5 out of 5

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Posted by: Donovan Richards

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Christmas Albums 2011: #1 – Christmas

Christmas by Michael Bublé (Reprise Records, 2011. 52 minutes)

Michael Bublé is a Canadian singer and actor, who found wide acclaim interestingly through performances at business parties, and later a wedding. He has won three grammy awards for best traditional pop album, and multiple Juno awards as well. With his 2007 album, Call Me Irresponsible, he reached the top of the Billboard top 200 chart.

Christmas Time!

Christmas time is here, and with it, new Christmas albums. These albums range from good to bad, but a few have caught my attention. So be forewarned; I will be reviewing one album a week through Christmas with an effort to spread the word and good cheer. So, Merry Christmas!

Crooners 

Michael Bublé’s album, Christmas, is one that harkens back to Baby, It's Cold Outside, and many other old crooner Christmas classics. Michael Bublé, in his standard fashion, brings back the croon with a few new tunes as well. He starts the album with “It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas” in an homage to the Bing Crosby classic.

Variety 

Bublé also brings some not-so-classic Christmas tunes into play, including a poppy original tune, “Cold December Night” and Darlene Love’s arrangement of “Christmas (Baby Please Come Home).” While I certainly prefer Bublé when he is singing Sinatra-esque songs, his pop tunes provide Christmas cheer just as well as the older classics.

In addition to these new songs, Bublé invites some well-known talent to join him. The Puppini Sisters sing “Jingle Bells” with him in a doo-wop style much like The Chordettes; Shania Twain joins Bublé in “White Christmas”; and Latin sensation Thalia joins him for “Feliz Navidad”.

Ending 

Michael Bublé ends the album, in my opinion, the best way he could by singing the classic “Ave Maria” with astounding technique, phrasing, and diction. He brings a remarkable voice to a long standing Christmas tradition, and makes this song hauntingly beautiful and a delightful way to end a record.

Christmas Special 

Christmas also acts as an excellent introduction to what will assuredly be an amazing Christmas special airing, tonight, December 6 on NBC at 8PM EST. I hope you get a chance to watch; I surely will.

Christmas contains both tunes that have become engrained in our memories from past Christmases and welcomed new additions. Much like how I keep going back to the crooner Christmas records of old, I foresee myself going back to this album every Christmas. I’m sure with its great variety, talent, and repertoire it will become a classic album for the ages to come. If you love classic Christmas tunes and the crooner style, I recommend Michael Bublé’s Christmas.

Verdict: 4 out of 5
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Posted By:  Andrew Jacobson

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