The Idler Wheel...
| The Idler Wheel... | ||||
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| Studio album by Fiona Apple | ||||
| Released | June 19, 2012 | |||
| Genre | ||||
| Length | 42:39 | |||
| Label | Clean Slate, Epic | |||
| Producer | Fiona Apple, Charley Drayton | |||
| Fiona Apple chronology | ||||
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| Singles from The Idler Wheel... | ||||
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| Professional ratings | |
|---|---|
| Aggregate scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| Metacritic | 89/100 |
| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |   |
| The A.V. Club | A |
| Entertainment Weekly | A |
| The Guardian |  |
| Los Angeles Times | |
| MSN Music | A− |
| NME | 8/10 |
| Pitchfork Media | 9.0/10 |
| Rolling Stone | |
| Spin | 8/10 |
The Idler Wheel Is Wiser than the Driver of the Screw and Whipping Cords Will Serve You More than Ropes Will Ever Do, frequently abridged as The Idler Wheel..., is the fourth studio album by Fiona Apple. Like her second album When the Pawn..., its title derives from a poem written by Apple herself. It was released on June 19, 2012, by Epic Records. The album debuted at number three on the Billboard 200, her highest debut yet, selling 72,000 copies in its first week. The album earned a nomination at the 2013 Grammy Awards for Best Alternative Album.
The album was recognized as #10 among The 100 Best Albums of the Decade So Far, a list published by Pitchfork Media in August 2014.
Following the delays and controversy surrounding the release of Extraordinary Machine (2005), Apple began recording new material for her fourth studio album in secret, including from her label, Epic Records. When asked by BlackBook magazine on when the recording sessions began, Apple remarked,
It must have started in 2008. Or 2009. I don't know! I have no idea. It's weird to think that there was 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011. Where've I been? What was I doing? What was that year about?
Apple remarked,
It was very casual, and I wasn't fully admitting that I was making an album, I got to use the time in the studio to inspire me to finish other things rather than feel like I was finishing homework to hand in. It wasn't a lot of pressure. And the record company didn't know I was doing it, so nobody was looking over my shoulder.
Instead of her long-time collaborator Jon Brion, Apple opted to produce the album with her touring drummer, Charley Drayton. Executives at Epic only found out that Apple had recorded an album in early 2012, when she presented it to them. Originally planned for release in 2011, Apple delayed the album's release until her label found a new president in 2012, explaining that she delayed it because she "didn't want her work to be mishandled amid corporate disarray." During a secret concert in Los Angeles with Brion, Apple remarked, "I can't remember any of my new songs because they've been done for a fucking year." On January 24, 2012, L.A. Reid announced through social networking site Twitter that new material from Apple will be released later in 2012, saying "Lot's [sic] of good music coming from Epic_Records in the next few weeks. Stay tuned music fans. Welcome back Fiona!"
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Wikipedia