New York singer-songwriter virtuoso Fiona Apple has announced a string of US tour dates with collaborator Blake Mills, entitled, ‘Anything We Want: An Evening With Blake Mills and Fiona Apple’

Sadly, the tour is limited to 16 US cities, so the news is fairly incidental to UK readers. Nonetheless, given Apple’s elusive nature – often taking up to 7 years between albums – any discussion of her hitting the road is bound to give her fans a glimmer of hope.

The announcement follows the debut of Apple’s superb music video for ‘Hot Knife’ last week. Directed by Apples ex-boyfriend, iconic filmmaker Paul Thomas Anderson – the man behind ‘Magnolia’ and ‘There Will Be Blood’ – the video is a minimalist masterwork, consisting of nothing but shots of Apple singing and drumming, depicted alternately in bleak monochrome and lucid golden light, effectively using split screen to enhance the songs vocal multiplicity, and allowing Apple’s intense performance style, overflowing with implacable emotion, to dominate.

‘Hot Knife’ is the second release from Apple’s outstanding fourth album, ‘The Idler Wheel is Wiser Than The Driver of the Screw, and Whipping Cords Will Serve You More Than Ropes Will Ever Do’*, which was released last year to overwhelming critical acclaim, rightfully cited by many as among the best albums of the year.

Have a look at the music video for, ‘Hot Knife’ below:

* Not even her longest album title.