Tidal [CD]

Fiona Apple has become one of those few singer-songwriters who is known for her talent, with only two albums to her name. Her debut "Tidal" is more uneven than her sophomore album, but Apple's rich voice and exquisite musicianship make up for the occasional lyrical stumbles.

"You say love is a hell you cannot bear/And I say gimme mine back and then go there for all I care," Apple sings in the first song, her alto suspended somewhere between a purr and a snarl. Backling her up is her own textured piano playing, backed by a heavy bass lick that pops up every few seconds like a tribal drum.

But unworthy lovers aren't the only topic that Apple tackles here. She also explores personal changes ("And I suddenly feel like a different person/From the roots of my soul come a gentle coercion"), hurting others in love, and "You'll say "don't fear your dreams"/It's easier than it seems."

Her songs are painfully deep in themselves, but it's all the more shocking and stunning when you realize that she was only eighteen when the album was released. Her music exudes the sorrow, anger and emotion of a woman twenty years older, mixed in with the ever-changing personality of a young girl. Music like this can't be calculated; it can only ever be real.

Her youth does show in songs like "Pale Summer," or certain awkward lines like "Oh, your love give me a heart contusion/Adagio breezes fill my skin with sudden red." It sounds a bit too overblown, in a high-school poetry way. But Apple has a rare way with simpler lines, giving them a verbal punch that a shadowboxer couldn't match. "I have never been so insulted in all my life/I could swallow the seas to wash down all this pride!" she snarls in the first song.

But honestly speaking, Apple could sing some really dreadful songs and they would still sound good -- her voice is another thing that was much older than she was, the sort of thing you'd expect to find in a thirtysomething torch singer. Her husky alto carries the songs with a rare intensity, backed with swelling strings and her delicate piano melodies.

There are a few lyrical stumbles in Fiona Apple's debut "Tidal," but it's still a pop masterpiece. Beautiful, intense, heartfelt and heartbreaking.

You cannot really describe music without adjectives getting all out of hand. You simply must listen to Fiona Apple.

Let's be straight -- I heard the name, saw the waif approach the mike, and I clicked off the late night TV and went to bed. Next day a friend laid a cassette on me for a long drive. I saw the name again and thought, okay whatever will keep me awake. One of the best things that ever happened to me musically.

Her voice is a rich, deep, incredible instrument. Her music complex, emotive, powerful, lyrical, soulful, mind-wrenching, gut-provoking.... you see what I mean about all these words not really giving it to you. You've just got to do yourself the favor of this musician's music -- get hold of any of it, any way you can.

Oh, and, one last thing must be said: Fiona Apple is incomparable -- critical comparisons to Morissette are unfortunate; like comparing the color pink to the color purple... one could do it, but why?

I actually bought Fiona's second album, "When The Pawn.." before I bought this album, but I bought it on the strength of tracks like ShadowBoxer and Sullen Girl which both appear on this album. Her sound on this album generally is obviously a lot younger, but that doesn't mean that the songs can't be just as captivating, and just as intense. The production is beautiful - just right for her smooth but potent voice, and there are some treats in store while she explores different styles and textures towards the end of the album. You can really appreciate what has been achieved in Pawn when you listen to the superb foundations that Fiona Apple laid with Tidal.