After months of rumors and hints about a new album, we've finally got something (sorta) concrete outta Fiona Apple -- a date and a time, posted on the singer's official Facebook page. --- (Click image to expand)

While the post doesn't actually mention anything about an album -- "Tuesday, February 21, 2012 - 7 AM ET" is all she wrote -- it would make the most sense, given that Fiona Apple's album has apparently been finished for "a fucking year" (and two and a half months). Epic Records CEO L.A. Reid tweeted in January about new music coming in the "next few weeks" and mentioned Fiona. And, just yesterday, it was announced that Fiona will be performing at SXSW next month.

Dropping an album with such little lead time would be pretty unusual, so I'm hoping for a single and a firm album-release date and an announcement that she's coming back to Utah for a concert (hey, it's my birthday; I'm allowed to dream). It's been 6 1/2 years since (the also long-delayed) Extraordinary Machine was released. She's released some tracks here and there in the meantime, but they've all been pretty snoozy jazz covers (the exception being a live version of Elvis Costello's "I Want You," available on iTunes, go get it now).

I'm hoping for a return to the raw anger, drum loops, expressive lyrics and wordplay of When the Pawn ... , my favorite album of all time.

Here's "Paper Bag," my favorite Fiona Apple song, which lacks the raw anger, and "Fast As You Can," which has it in spades.