Fiona Apple is making her triumphant return to the world of music videos after more than 6 years away with "Every Single Night," the lead single off her forthcoming album, "The Idler Wheel Is Wiser Than the Driver of the Screw and Whipping Cords Will Serve You More Than Ropes Will Ever Do," The brilliantly bizarre clip, seems to be obsessed with wildlife, especially creatures with no spines, makes its official debut on the Sundance Channel Sunday night, and the album hits stores on June 19th, the kickoff day for Apple's North American tour."Every Single Night," her first single in y years, is a tortured tale but the lyrics aren't the only aspect of the sparse song that feels bipolar: There's a prominent toy piano riff that makes Apple sound like a ballerina spinning out of control. Apple describes what she's trying to capture as "the flight of little-wings of white-flamed butterflies in my brain" - a striking image that turns disturbing when you think about what it's like to be enveloped by trapped, flapping tiny insects. Apple uses her piano as a percussive instrument that also makes melodies. She bangs at it, slapping out chords that sometimes feel like marching orders and sometimes act as interruptions, enhancing the stop-start nature of her internal monologues.
Emotions are so darn beautiful - that's the message of music, much of the time. Apple's music does something different. A classically lovely woman whose gorgeous, sultry alto once led her toward alt-divadom, she has always dared herself to be and do something else: to say no to simple beauty and instead express the urges and insecurities that more accommodating artists tend to avoid. Combined with some her unique vocals and some truly unique imagery, "Every Single Night" is a triumphant comeback by being exactly what Apple's cult of devotees has been yearning for.
The 34-year-old songstress and pianist gave director Joseph Cahill pretty simple instructions: "do things to me and put me in situations and surprise me." The end result certainly is surprising. The very strange, sci-fi-tinged clip features unsettling water imagery, an octopus worn as a hat, and a minotaur in Apple's bed and dances down the street while surrounded by people with lightbulb-sticks. As we see Apple lying in a field, while an electric-blue sky floats above her, upside-down swimming above water and walking through the streets of Paris while a giant squid attacks the Eiffel Tower. It's strange, it's oddly beautiful. And it's far more haunting and for more beautiful than what we could have ever anticipated!
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