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
New Release (Epic)
Fiona Apple continues to wear her eccentricity and her complicated emotional life as badges of honor, referring to “the gashes I got from my heartbreak” two songs into this album. But the mundane truth is that she’s a superior pop craftswoman, whose gracefully turned melodies give you reason to care about those gashes. And though this is ostensibly a stripped-down album, her multitracked harmonies give it all the polish it needs.
