One of those "mad genius" albums, in the same vein as Neil Young's "Tonight's the Night," Syd Barrett's "Madcap Laughs," and (I'd argue) Wilco's "Yankee Hotel Foxtrot." It's probably better than those, though, and certainly more fully realized... Fiona projects her "madness" onto some terrific, and terrifically unconventional, melodies, and the percussion arrangements don't feel tacked on after the fact (like, say, the electronic bloops in "YHF")-- they feel like counter-pieces to her singing. The result is a kind of duet between piano and drums, words and emotions.
It's pretty fucking eerie. Again, these are "mad" songs, "raw" songs, but they are not lazy demo songs. These chords have been thought out; these vocal inflections, as sudden as they are, all make sense in a way. "The Idler Wheel" is thus an album that will shock you the first time AND hold up to repeated listens.
Very thoughtful lyrics, too. The way Fiona describes her anxieties ("the fight with her BRAY-YAY-HAY-HAY-HAY-HAY-HAY-HAY-HAINNNN") goes so far beyond the standard "I'm insane" patterns of rock words. You end up knowing and caring for her protagonist (who is, uh, her), even though she hardly presents a stable, respectable character-type.
Who else is making music like this? Surely this was THE album of 2012.
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