"And maybe some Faith would do me some good" This is a sassy slap of feminine observation dripping with innuendo and suggestion expressed on a canvas of moody sly melodies. The shortcoming of most female solo artists is they overlook the music, confident their bust lines, looks and witty (read man-bashing) sense of lyrical prose will sell them. Look at half the Lilith Fair lineup and then try to argue against that point (in case you haven't been to any coffee shop in any city -- there are absolutely no shortages of folksy acoustic acts). The most gratifying aspect of "When the Dawn," is that Fiona, or her producers (whoever controls the Apple machine, another complaint I have with this end of the musical spectrum) wisely put together a backing band capable of accentuating the sultry mood swings of Fiona without overshadowing.

The whole piece is an impressive range mostly circulating around bluesy/jazzy piano arrangements, but augmented with strings, keys and jazzy beats when the song dictates and some distinctly original tasting movements and breakdowns. But this is a Fiona Apple production, make no mistake. "Fast as You Can" has an impressive warm percussive breakdown with some of those wood block xylophone/bongo (forgive my lack of instrument names) sounding backup -- quite unexpected (but approvingly clever) on the first listen.

She captivates with her dreamy drawls and feline whines with an intelligent poetic sense of lyrical delivery and timing that holds the attention well even in the slower moments that this type of music often finds itself repeating itself in. "Gonna make a mistake, Gonna do it on purpose" echoes from the one of the brattier moments in, "A Mistake" and you can see the wry smile of the imp Fiona likes to portray herself as.

Sassy with an intelligent hurtful streak. White trash trampy in the most poetically beautiful sense possible.