Ignoring the wonderfully loose, rolling piano riff, the charm of “Periphery” is Fiona Apple’s heart once again on her sleeve with cutting humor. “Oh, the periphery/They throw good parties there,” she bemoans, hiding her hurt at a lost lover (“I lost another one there/He found a prettier girl than me”) with a shield (“You let me down/I don’t even like you anymore at all”) that seems all the more devastating when it slips. Anyone who doesn’t understand what it feels like to say “All that loving must have been lacking something” is a very lucky person at all, all things considered. On an album that’s filled with honesty and self-awareness, this is a stand-out track even as it pretends to adopt the opposite tack.
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