Another bite of the Apple

Fiona Apple's "first third studio album" (whatever that means) is due out in October   Extraordinary Machine to be released from durance vile.  Sony's dungeon won't be the same w/o it.   I have to admit to a kind of strange fascination with Fiona Apple's singing.  Her songs and her voice.  Both juuust on the edge of being whiny without quite getting there.  Maybe it's the dark undertones of her music and her voice that holds her performances just shy of whiny.   Whatever, I find I can take greater doses of her singing than most other current pop singers.  In fact, I even actually like some of her stuff! Some of it has to do with the fact that though she bends pitches, she obviously can tell what the pitches  are that she's bending. And her voice has a complexity that nearly every other popular "artist" I've heard in the past 5-10 years lacks. I could wish for more blending of her head and chest voices, but she uses the break between them effectively.   All told, an intriguing performer/songwriter. And I may just break a longstanding rule and buy a popular artist's (no scare quotes this time, cos—although I can't quite figure her out—she does have some chops) album.  (Don't get me wrong: I do occasionally buy CDs, just not usually of someone well-known in the current milieu.)   h.t. Lovely Daughter for pointing out that Sony's giving us another bite of the Apple.