Fiona Apple - Heavy Balloon (Audio)

Fiona Apple's new album, Fetch The Boltcutters, has been met with wild enthusiasm amongst the denizens of my Twitter feed but I have to confess that Apple is an artist I'd lost track of. I was late to get into her, and early to lose interest, but I wanted to see what the buzz was about this time and, while most of the album didn't speak to me so much, I could completely understand why it has spoken so loudly to many other people. Especially women.

'Heavy Balloon' is, for me, the standout track on the album, reflecting a moment when all the rage and musical experimentation comes together in a coherent, searingly powerful form.

Do give the album a listen. It's difficult, it's messy, but it's also very innovative and it has a brutal honesty to it that is very freeing.