MUSIC REVIEW OF THE DAY: FIONA APPLE - THE IDLER WHEEL IS WISER THAN THE DRIVER OF THE SCREW AND WHIPPING CORDS WILL SERVE YOU MORE THAN ROPES WILL EVER DO

It's her first album in seven years, so it takes awhile to get used to her particular, peculiar style again.  Ah, who am I kidding?  I can never get used to Apple's eccentricities, and this one is as out there as anything else she's done, more so perhaps.  It's mostly lots and lots of words, her piano, and some percussion.  Verging on jazz poetry, Apple's melodies are slippery things, sounding almost improvised over the rambling keys, the structure far away from traditional verse-chorus-verse format.   She sticks to the lower registers on the piano, adding her voice an octave above, giving the whole disc a rather grave sound, or as she sings, "Nothing wrong when a song ends in a minor key".

There's an intensity throughout the album, even in its relative calmness.  It's all those moody notes and strong words.  Like some of your better poets, she knows that its the sound of a word as much as the meaning that creates the power.  In the near-scat of Hot Knife, her delivery of the phrase "If I'm butter" is rhythmic treat, more ba-dah-ba than "butter".  The jungle beat behind it takes us back to a 40's jazz number, which is quite cool.  I can't tell you what's up in the song Periphery, except that the words sound strong:  "Oh, the periphery/they throw good parties there/those peripheral idiots/always have a bite to bear."

Okay, it's heady and headstrong stuff, and you'll just as likely be turned off as impressed with an initial listen.  Apple's an acquired taste for sure, and is making no attempts to woo the Rolling Stone Magazine crowd that brought her to fame a decade and more back.  This frustratingly-titled disc holds many quirks, and reveals its qualities only with a bit of patience, but there will be a small percentage of folks that will be looking for just that kind of experience.  Others will downright hate it.  Me, I appreciate it, but won't be throwing it on again anytime soon.