I took a sick day today. But that only means sick from work, not sick from Pitchfork. Actually, it doesn't really mean I got sick from work. Well, it could. It was either from one of my roommates or from someone at work-- which, of course, would make it from work. So today I was sick from work.

Things to do on a sick day:
1 Sleep
2 Drink water
3 Watch a movie you've been putting off ("The Sweet Hereafter")
4 Make some chicken soup (I did, I really did)
5 Put up plastic sheeting over the window that leaks cold air into your room, since it doesn't have a storm window-- something else that helped make me sick.
6 Drink tea

So I did all those things and here I am now after dark in the basement with a wool hat on and a blanket wrapped around me. Do I feel any better? Not really. My condition has gotten better, yet worse. If I get lots of sleep tonight, I'll probably feel better in the morning. I hope.

Fiona Apple is playing on my computer. And actually, I wasn't going to review it. I was just listening to it-- and enjoying it. ...Wait. Fiona Apple? Two years ago I hated her. Actually, up till a month ago I hated her. I thought she was just an annoying girl who'd been offered the microphone way too many times to voice conclusions she had spent her whole life (read: not that long) coming to. Why was this pretentious girl so famous? Why did they keep handing her the mic to quote Maya Angelou? Why did I keep watching her?

The music on her first album failed to interest me. I thought it rambled. It drooped and moped. It dragged itself into bed and went to sleep. Ah, that actually sounds nice right now. It put me to sleep. In a bad way. The songs seemed to ramble on with a synthetic soul that spoke of a young girl admiring and trying to duplicate the styles of days past.

Then, a couple months ago, the story broke that Apple had given her next album a 90- word title. Perfect! I hadn't thought that she could take the pretension to another level.

A few weeks ago, I saw the video for "Fast As You Can," the first single off When the Pawn (the short, 1/30th version of the album's title). This was an upbeat and energetic video-- far from the pedophilic "Criminal" off her last album. Director Paul Thomas Anderson perfectly matched visuals with the music (as he did in "Boogie Nights"): Apple stays just out of sync the whole time, as if the camera can't keep up with her and she can't keep up with herself. Now this was interesting. This was different. This was worth a little attention.

So I got the album. The one with 90 words on the cover. So what? It's good. Apple kicks in with "On the Bound," a lumbering opener that starts with some heavy Portishead-esque beats, but coming through the bass notes of a piano. Lyrically, it sounds like a personal examination: "I don't know what I'm doing, don't know should I/ Change my mind, I can't decide, there's too many/ Variations to consider."

"To Your Love" follows and picks up with a pulsing piano chord and the lyrics: "Here's another speech you wish I'd swallow/ Another cue for you to fold your ears." Apple confronts a would-be lover, but it also seems directed towards critiques of her early outspokenness. She almost acknowledges the hordes of people turned off by her younger ramblings.

But now Fiona seems older. Her voice is full of a heartfelt soul that seems almost timeless. While Billie Holiday would never have considered the possibility of lines like, "It won't be long till you'll be/ Lying limp in your own hand," Apple executes them flawlessly with a modern passion. It's also important to note that her musical ideas and lyrics have caught up with the ability of her voice. The songs are well varied, and transition smoothly from one to the other whereas her first album all sounded the same to me. She finally got the concept [cough].

Yeah, I'm still sick. I'm forgetting how to type. But I feel like an end is near. One more night's rest. Another tall glass of orange juice. More echinacea tea. Two more Tylenol. It's been rough, but better than living the life of Fiona Apple's songs-- constantly fighting anger, apprehension, fear, and passion.

-Chip Chanko