i can get my head around why this has happened, as she fits almost uniquely into this kind of neo-boomer space (she's a beatnik.) that's probably at it's high point right now, as millennials go through their last years of cultural relevance at the same time as the last boomers retire. she was an odd duck in the 90s; kind of there, but neither hitting her commercial nor her critical potential, trying to navigate this space between gen x oddity and girl-beck redux. so, has she found something here?
see, it just sounds to me like fiona apple.
and, it's still got the same old quirkiness, even if it's more predictable now, but still lacks that c'est la vie that i never felt she really had. but, i need to flip it over, because people are going to get into this because it sounds like yesteryears, whereas i'm going to just shrug off the retro sheen of it. and, in the sense that she's been doing this beatnik shtick for however long now, has it reached some plateau? i dunno.
it seems she's kept her fan base happy, though.
i just don't hear anything on this record that i haven't heard her do before, and so don't see the point of listing it. but, it's really the critic's choice this year, so i feel compelled to react in some way. and, that's all i got - it's a new fiona apple record. swell.
