Tidal

07/23/1996 3:00 AM, Yahoo! Music
Ken Micallef

An odd-looking woman-child with large, probing eyes and fleshy lips, Fiona Apple is a welcome anachronism in this age of histrionic R&B singers and bellowing punk divas. With her smoky voice and brooding songs, Apple is like a modern day Nina Simone. Singing of broken relationships and impossible longings, Apple writes like someone twice her age (whatever teen-age that may be). Imagine Joni Mitchell1s Court And Spark darkened by a moody rumination on solace and sadness.

3Once my lover, now my friend/What a cruel thing to pretend/What a cunning way to condescend,² sings Apple on 3Shadow Boxer,² as she works her piano and a funk groove acts as stark compliment. 3Sleep To Dream² hovers over vibes and steel guitar, the vocalist weaving a moody, spiraling fantasy of wasted days spent staring into the sun. 3Criminal² is exquisite, Apple singing 3You moved like honey in my dream last night/And yes, old fires were burning,² with dark passion and moving imagery. Apple is at her best in moments of loss and desire, her plaintive voice and forlorn delivery as enchanting as a waltz in some crumbling Russian palace.

Work packs Tidal with heavyweights, including Van Dyke Parks (string arrangements), Patrick Warren (Chamberlain keyboard), Sara Lee on bass and Matt Chamberlain on drums. A full hour of Apple1s heady gloom may be an acquired taste--like thick liqueur or anchovies--but repeated encounters go down oh-so-sweet.