Album Flashback 2.6// Fiona Apple – ‘When The Pawn…’ (1999)
For those who appreciate
the understated, couldn’t give a fuck if you don’t care, eccentricity of Fiona
Apple it’s one of the reasons her sparse but brilliant recorded output is
timeless. Releasing just four albums since her debut in 1996, Fiona Apple has a
talent for minimal output with maximum reach. Following the success of her debut
album the challenge of the second album was posed.
Seemingly taking the challenge
in both fists Apple came back with an album with one of the longest titles ever
for any album in anybody’s catalogue. When The Pawn, or to give it the full
title: ‘When the Pawn Hits the
Conflicts He Thinks like a King What He Knows Throws the Blows When He Goes to
the Fight and He'll Win the Whole Thing 'fore He Enters the Ring There's No
Body to Batter When Your Mind Is Your Might so When You Go Solo, You Hold Your
Own Hand and Remember That Depth Is the Greatest of Heights and If You Know
Where You Stand, Then You Know Where to Land and If You Fall It Won't Matter,
Cuz You'll Know That You're Right’ was released in 1999 it was to almost
universal praise, if not a few dismissive reviews from some publications.
But listening to the album again, just over 15
years after its initial release proves a few points about well made music. When
The Pawn is certainly not compromised by the time passed since 1999. Certainly,
it makes for a strong listen and with the highly pointed, and very literate,
lyrics that point towards a sense of searching for belonging but not wanting to
belong anywhere or commit too much to anything we find an artist who is keen to
evolve both personally and creatively.
Some have criticised Apple in terms of
her performance style and perhaps that is because her style is essentially
honest. There is very little of her music that is staged or ingenuine and one
never doubts the sincerity or truth behind the words she’s singing. One might
even cite the bitter genius of Edith Piaf or other similar performers as a
precursor. Of course, there is much to enjoy about the lyrical phrasing of the
songs here, such as the supremely addictive anti love song Paper Bag, tinged
with the jazz fusion influences that inform much of Apple’s music, ‘Limp’ also
bubbles with an understated tension, the gentle piano notes of the intro
belying the stream of consciousness influenced lyrics.
As a whole though When
The Pawn is a rare beast of an album that hits top marks on all fronts
precisely because it’s not concerned with being of any time or place and more a
psychological portrait of the artist. Certainly, if everyone could express
their neuroses and inner issues with such a turn of phrase, beautiful yet straight
to the point simultaneously we would be a better race indeed.
(C.Agent)
