Review by LarryG
2 stars out of 4
Fiona Apple was 18 when she wrote most of the songs for her
debut Tidal record. At 22, Apple still seems young. When The Pawn has
the excitement and awkwardness of a bright young woman still exploring
her feelings and finding her own sound. It's filled with
contradictions. She has an agile, mature voice but still writes diary
type lyrics. Her songs often have ambitious arrangements but not much
depth.
The mix of confidence and awkwardness is clear from the record's
title. There's something refreshingly audacious about using a ninety
word poem as an album title. Rather than being known as When The
Pawn, the record should be referred to as When the Pawn Hits the
Conflict He Thinks He's a King to give some sense of Apple's ambition.
However, the poem is pretentious and pretty bad.
The album's opener On The Bound makes it immediately clear that
When the Pawn is going to be an interesting but tough listen. On the
Bound is very theatrical, with Apple's dramatic piano, strings and
woodwinds. Apple sings of a confusion and need for reassurance,
especially from a lover. Her repeated cry, trying to convince herself
"you're all I need", gets a little tiresome after a while. Other young
women are Apple's most obvious audience. They can relate to her
feelings of uncertainty and won't find her anguished emotions too
melodramatic. In To Your Love, Apple can't get close to her boyfriend
because of private pain. The music has a stark atmosphere with a good,
irregular beat. A chamberlain adds the eastern or old fashioned feel
many of the songs have. But if you go under the surface, the music of
To Your Love, like on much of When The Pawn, doesn't have much
substance. The string laden Love Ridden has a simple beauty that
contrasts with her overwrought emotion of ambivalence about leaving
her man. The Way Things Are has a cool musical charm but Apple's
lyrics about being fine with being in a messed up relationship are
stupid. Apple's more interesting telling a worthless guy to get lost
on Get Gone.
When The Pawn is better when Apple shows more life. Apple's flood
of words and fluid delivery is well suited to the jazzy sound and Matt
Chamberlain's jagged beat on Fast As You Can. Apple flirtatiously
warns her man that she's no good for him and he should leave. On Limp,
she's in pain because of her lover but instead of wallowing, she
orders him away, mocking him, "it won't be long till you'll be lying
limp in your own hand." The music meanders at times but gains force on
the chorus with a driving beat and Apple's angry vocals and focused
piano. A Mistake has a likable looseness but the lyrics are almost a
replay of Tidal's Criminal. Apple is self consciously bad, she's gonna
make a mistake on purpose. Like many of the songs on When the Pawn, A
Mistake might lead to a sense of deja vu for Aimee Mann fans. Jon
Brion produces and plays for both, lending fun, surreal circuslike
keyboard effects. The older but wiser Mann is better able to find
irony and perspective in the pain both artists sing about. Still, with
her good voice, big emotions and talent and love for a big
orchestrated sound, Apple is often fascinating. Her lyrics seem
confused on I Know, aware of the problems of loving a guy who's still
with someone else. Her singing and the lush, simple arrangement are
more mature than her words.
Apple is still trying to prove herself. Her openly displayed
emotions are more interesting communicated than Jewel's, for instance,
but she'll be more interesting when she matures and gets a little more
subtle. The same is true of the music. Instead of making great songs,
Apple often seems to be showing how sophisticated and cool she is.
When the Pawn is an interesting work from an artist with incredible
potential.
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