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Unconditionally
Fiona
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Fiona Apple: Extraordinary Machine
Sony, 2005
Rating: 4.0
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Posted:
October 4,
2005
By
Laurence Station
Extraordinary Machine is Fiona Apple’s mix tape. The opening
and closing tracks are from the original, Jon Brion-produced sessions
finished back in May 2003. Smack-dab in the middle is a brand-new track
that didn’t originate with the leaked version of the album. The
remaining nine songs are rerecorded versions done with Mike Elizondo,
whom Apple reportedly turned to when she decided the Brion sessions didn't
quite do it for her.
Granted, a dedicated listener could assemble his own mix tape from the
two releases, perhaps a more balanced collection featuring three or four
additional Brion selections, adding a bit more carnival weirdness to
this emotionally messy set. The Brion Extraordinary Machine is
creepier, more threatening. The Elizondo retake is less about bizarre
backfill and more concerned with pushing Fiona Apple’s voice and her
fractured words to the fore. Hence, the official version feels more like
a solo work than a collaborative effort, ala the delightfully indulgent,
elementally engaging When the Pawn..., Apple’s previous release
(also produced by Brion). Apart the two versions are about equal,
combined they could have been amazing.
Thankfully, Brion’s recording of the title track made the cut on the
Fiona-authorized edition, which means we get to hear woodwinds and a
marimba tied to peculiar rhythmic shifts, which nicely complement
chemically imbalanced lines like “But I'm good at being uncomfortable so
I can't stop changing all the time.” This sets the passive-aggressive,
manic tone for the entire album. Lyrically, Extraordinary Machine
is obsessed with the notion of unconditional love in a world where very
little can be considered unconditional. It’s those tangled, attached
strings that cause so many problems for a young woman desiring a stable
relationship in a mad, mad, mad, mad world.
Whether it’s a spurned lover who just can’t get over it (“Get Him Back”)
or the callow dismissal of an idle plaything (“Oh you silly, stupid
pastime of mine,” from the lovely solo-piano-and-voice number “Parting
Gift”), Apple brings a wounded sincerity to each tune. She may only be
happy when she’s miserable (“Everything good I deem too good to be true
/ Everything else is just a bore,” from “O' Sailor”), but she capably
manages not to wallow in self-pity or reduce her words to bitter
invectives against some vaguely defined, Y-chromosomal adversary.
Apple still has a tendency to trot out little-used synonyms (remarkably,
her use of “folderol” on “Better Version of Me” also turns up on
the latest Decemberists
album. Wonder if she and Colin Meloy reference the same thesaurus?),
and some of her rhyme schemes are self-consciously labored (as on “Oh
Well,” which serves up the high calorie couplet, “What you did to me
made me see myself something awful / A voice once stentorian is now
again meek and muffled”). That Apple succeeds in integrating what could
be show off-y, art-school tripe into the psychic fabric of her tormented
worldview is a credit to her talent and chops.
The Jon Brion version of Extraordinary Machine pales next to his
work with Apple on When the Pawn..., but there are some wonderful
moments to be heard -- moments the commercially available rendition of
Extraordinary Machine could have benefited from beyond the
salvaging of a mere two tracks. But, it’s Apple’s name on the final
product, and that’s what must be judged, even if the final result is a
few steps down from extraordinary.
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