By Melissa Moody
Release date: Out now
The Sylvia Plath of popular music Fiona Apple’s latest album, “Extraordinary Machine,” is no exception to Apple’s history of moody vocals and heavy piano. Her fingers pound like lead weights on the keys with morose determination, and her voice floats over with a kind of sighing resignation. Apple has not srayed too far from the roots of her particular tree, keeping with the lilting, melodius and often ironic style of her two previous albums, “Tidal” and “When the Pawn …”
“Extraordinary Machine” shows Apple taking more risks with her music. Much more playful with the instrumentation, the opening song on the album, “Better Version of Me,” begins with an upbeat, playful sound reminiscent of a calliope, as though Apple is performing under the Big Top. It soon reminds the listener of her previous albums, with an edgy and dramatic Apple pouring her heart into the microphone.
â?”íMelissa Moody
