Fiona Apple Live at Stubb’s SXSW

This year’s “from-out-of-nowhere” return at SXSW was undoubtedly Fiona Apple. After years of radio silence that follow many other years of radio silence before the release of Extraordinary Machine, Fiona’s back with another absurdly long-named album about to be dropped. The good news is, the hiatus has done nothing to diminish her fire and passion. Apple put her back, heart and fire into each melodic phrasing. The bad news is, her voice sounds hoars and all but shot. By the set’s finale, her 90’s mega-hit “Criminal” her voice was as warbly as a terribly warped record. It could’ve been merely just a bad night, but in general, her voice seems to have lost some that crystal clear spark that made her famous. Her band colored each song up into almost jammy territory, a couple of songs expanded into jammed-out conclusions.