On a mini-tour that is scheduled to swing through Atlantic City at the Borgata on Saturday, March 24, Fiona Apple talks to AC Weekly from the SXSW festival in Austin. Her new album, The Idler Wheel, is due out this summer.
Fiona Apple's new album, "The Idler Wheel," is due this summer.
The rumors are apparently true. Fiona Apple is back. She has recorded, The Idler Wheel, only her fourth album in 15 years.
The disc will drop during the summer. Apple previewed some new tracks last week at the South By Southwest (SXSW) Music conference in Austin, Texas.
The diminutive powerhouse impressed the plethora of industry folk, who came to check her out at the annual music conference.
Apple, who will advance her tunes Saturday, March 24, at the Borgata, delivered old and new tunes at dusk at Stubbs.
She kicked off the show with the rambling “Fast As You Can.” Further, renditions of “Extraordinary Machine,” and “Sleep To Dream” were sublime. But SXSW is more about what’s happening now and in the future. Apple’s fresh material is rock, jazz and soul based.
“I’ve always done what I’ve wanted to do,” Apple tells Atlantic City Weekly.
Well, that’s part of Apple’s appeal. She has never followed anyone’s template. Who else would go seven years between albums? The beguiling Apple doesn’t care about anything but the songs, and when the new stuff is ready, she’ll deliver.
And that’s what she did in Austin. Many of the fresh cuts are surprisingly straightforward. Apple has always been a vocalist-pianist, but also enjoys complex arrangements.
Watch : Fiona Apple debuts new songs in Austin, Texas at SXSW festival March 14, 2012.
“Valentine,” “Every Single Night” and “Anything We Want” are each sexy, sensual love songs. They stand out since there’s a dearth of love songs out there, especially when they’re as carefully crafted as the tunes Apple has penned.
“I’ve always favored love songs,” Apple says. “It’s something I enjoy writing and singing about.”
That’s been the case for Apple throughout her career. Her three albums are primarily filled with songs about relationships or romantic situations. She has always been good with anything related to amour.
Apple has always had a flair for the dramatic and that showed up in Austin, too.
“You’re not real,” Apple yelled at the crowd. Curious, yes, but you never know what you’ll get when you see Apple on the stage.
“I tend to live in the moment,” Apple says.
Well, Apple’s outbursts are well-known. The last time she played the Borgata in 2006, she left a lasting impression after a patron made the mistake of asking her to hurry up and finish off her show.
“You want me to what?” Apple asked incredulously. “You want me to fucking finish it off? Well, fuck you. I’m not going to finish off anything until I’m done.”
You don’t get that sort of musician-fan give and take very often, especially in this politically correct era. That’s part of the reason to check out Apple Saturday. She’s a live wire. You never know what she’ll do.
That works both ways.
Melissa Etheridge’s music first put her in the spotlight in the late 1980s-early 1990s with such signature songs as “Bring Me Some Water,” “Come to My Window” and “I’m the Only One.” Her fierce vocal style with its Janis Joplin-like rasp, and her self-penned songs, which were a masterful blend of blues and folk-rock, found overwhelming commercial success in 1993 with the album Yes I Am, selling six million copies.
“It’ll be fun since it’s in New Jersey. It’s just down from where I’m from. The shore is a very important place for me. I guess that’s just the way it is wherever you’re from. There is no place like the Jersey shore. It’s a comforting place for me. I go back whenever I get the chance to visit my mom and dad.”
“I was writing and recording through some of the most difficult times of my life. The thing that saved me was that I could put down how I felt on paper and record what I came up with. I had a lot of dark feelings, but I’m not the only one to feel that way in rock. Some great songs have been written when guys have been down."
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1. Anonymous said... on Mar 20, 2012 at 07:12PM
“Hope she doesnt cancel ac show!”
2. yh said... on Jul 15, 2012 at 05:02PM
“love fiona forever”