Extraordinary Machine

Extraordinary Machine (2005) is Fiona Apple’s third studio album, combining piano-centered songwriting with baroque pop and artful rock arrangements. The record mixes lush strings and brass with off-kilter rhythms and theatrical, emotive vocals, moving between intimate piano ballads and rhythmically adventurous, pop-inflected tracks. The songs emphasize dense, literate lyrics and distinctive phrasing, and the album is marked by ornate production and a strong sense of emotional candor that broadened her work beyond conventional singer-songwriter territory.