Fiona Apple - The Idler Wheel Is Wiser Than The Driver...

So much of the drama surrounding Fiona Apple's third album, Extraordinary Machine, focused on its recording and release -- how the original Jon Brion productions were scrapped in favor of new versions helmed by Mike Elizondo, all fueling fan panic and an Internet protest pleading for a free Fiona -- that ultimately all the clamor obscured Apple herself, both her songs and performances. She runs no such risk on The Idler Wheel Is Wiser Than the Driver of the Screw and Whipping Cords Will Serve You More Than Ropes Will Ever Do, her fourth album, arriving some seven years after Extraordinary Machine. Alone with her voice, piano, and percussionist Charley Drayton, Apple has nowhere to hide, nor does she give any indication she'd prefer to run. These spare but not skeletal arrangements -- each cut is subtly colored with harmonies, slight effects, overlapping rhythms, and additional keyboards -- never shift focus away from Fiona's magnetic vocals, the human element pulling us into these song