Fiona Apple
The Idler Wheel (Epic/Clean Slate)
Pennsylvania-born singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and ballet dancer James the Seventh told us about her love for a Fiona Apple gem...
James the Seventh: An album that I always turn on is The Idler Wheel by Fiona Apple. It has the perfect mix of angst, chaos, and vulnerability to me. The first time I listened to this album, I was walking through a busy airport amid a connecting flight on my second ever trip to Los Angeles to work with my producer and now good friend, Oren Yoel. With every Fiona album, I love how sonically she seems to be driven by emotion, rather than sounding “pretty”. This had a huge impact on me and my artistry. As someone that had been only singing and songwriting for a couple of years when I discovered this body of work, it felt like it inspired me to aspire to make songs from a place of feeling and emotion, rather than a place of sounding perfect.
Valentine, a track I absolutely fell in love with, uses metaphors I love. “I’m a tulip in a cup, I stand no chance of growing up,” is one of my favorite lines. And I love how she plays with fun lyricism too. In Hot Knife, “I’m a hot knife, he’s a bed of butter.” The primal esc drums and emotion filled lyricism and vocal performances in every song make me feel like I’m getting in touch with my most primal form as a human. As a woman, I think it is so important to not subscribe to the ideals of perfection, and to embrace our humanness. Although I do love my happy go lucky music, there’s something very special about unabashed honesty in music helping me feel seen, and in some ways, I think that can be even more powerful than a song filled with positive affirmations. The Idler Wheel is a perfect album to me that makes me feel seen, feel unashamed of all the emotions we inevitably feel as humans.
James the Seventh's Science EP is out now.
Photo by Olivia Wein
