Every Single Night

The wait is officially over. After 7 long years without producing new angst-filled material, Fiona Apple finally released the first single off her forthcoming album, The Idler Wheel (full title: The Idler Wheel Is Wiser Than The Driver of The Screw And Whipping Cords Will Serve You More Than Ropes Will Ever Do). If “Every Single Night” is any indication of the musical goods Fiona has crafted for her highly anticipated album, then fans will not be disappointed--Fiona is back stronger and more tortured than ever. In typical tormented fashion, Fiona sings about an endless and agonizing battle with (surprise) herself. Her expressive voice starts off serene and soothing but quickly reveals the pain, anger and torture she struggles with every night. She can’t shut her brain off—her ideas saturate more than her restless mind. The lyrics vacillate between intensities throughout the duration of the song, from cycles of calming, whispered utterances to sullen and frenzied orders and observations (“If what I am is what I am, cause what I does is what I does, then brother get back cause my breast’s gonna bust open”). Fiona’s unrestrained words serve to reinforce the interchangeable layers of her erratic thoughts during the unrelenting internal battle. Her ceaseless questioning and ruminations aim to drive her mad and keep her up. “Every single night’s a fight with my brain,” she bellows in the second verse. And we understand her conflict and predicament. We’ve all waged war at one point or another with our own ideas, fears and insecurities during the darkest hours in bed when peace and solace elude us. But in the last verse, a part of Fiona’s tortured psyche realizes she must renounce the battle: "So I'm gonna try to be still now, Gonna renounce the mill a little while." She needs to relax and the refrain “I just want to be everything” shows her vulnerability, as well as a simple desire to be free of confinement and a part of something more than the battle. The arrangement of the song is as sprightly as it is multi-layered. From the opening lullaby-like notes, to the percussion driven chorus, nothing about this song is simple or neatly arranged. The Idler Wheel will be released on June 19 through Epic, and I think I speak for everyone when I say, "It’s about damn time."