Fiona Apple, for some reason, has not been heard of for quite a while in the world of music.

After releasing her sophomore album with a 90 word title that begins with the words, “When the Pawn Hits the Conflicts He Thinks Like a King…” that came out a little after the infamous “go with yourself” speech, which insulted nearly every person on the planet, at the 1997 Video Music Awards, she seemed to have crept into a dark hole.

Now suddenly, she is returning.

After years of hard work on her third album, “Extraordinary Machine”, Fiona Apple is finally back, with an extremely different and unique sound.

With her first CD, “Tidal”, the one with hits such as "Criminal" and “Never is a Promise”, that made her famous, Fiona was just a little 19-year-old who sang in a deep, dark, soulful voice about pain and hurt she had to live through ever since she was raped at 12.

Now, Fiona keeps that soulful voice, but she backs it up with her own piano playing, using melodies similar to the bizarre percussion duo, The Dresden Dolls. The piano playing is sad yet whimsical, sounding like a child lost at a carnival or circus, and it works.

Still, at times, like in “Tymps (The Sick In The Head Song)”, the piano is less sad and innocent and more angry and twisted, with strange note combinations that make it almost seem like a person who really is sick in the head.

Lyrics, also, seem to change from one extreme to another.

She is either angry or sad, or sometimes, like in “Extraordinary Machine,” the first track on the album, she uses irony, as if to tell the world she knows she had a hard life, but she’s getting through it and still finding a way to live.

In the song “Get Him Back,” Fiona sings “But wait till I get him back/He won’t have a back to scratch” which makes little to no sense, but it is clear that she is angry with an incredibly unlucky “he.”

Then in “Parting Gift” Fiona sings of a lost love: “Oh, you silly, stupid pass time of mine/You were always good for a rhyme” she seems more regretful than anything else.

But what is most interesting about this album is the fact that the man who produced Dr. Dre, Eminem and 50 Cent, Mike Elizondo, produced this album! Yes, the man not only produces rap albums, but also a soulful, rock sound that’s never been heard before.

Still, this album may be strange, but this strangeness makes it an interesting and fresh new sound in the usually monotonous industry of music.