Her last album, 2012’s The Idler Wheel…, felt like a logical evolution of the sound Apple had defined for herself: piano, percussion, and an earth-shaking voice. Because of this, every time she finally releases new music it feels like an event. She’s always existed in her own bubble, outside of the popular music sphere, only releasing music when she feels like its time and largely refraining from interviews and public appearances. The singer-songwriter’s elusiveness and refusal to play by the rules have always been part of her charm. Elliott Simpson review.įiona Apple has a habit of showing up when the world needs her most.

And there is real pleasure in that.On her first album in eight years, Fiona Apple continues to demonstrate why she’s a singular talent. To her home, to her thoughts, to her dreams and anxieties…. But it is the album where Apple finally invites us in. Some songs feel like snippets good yet incomplete ideas. “Kick me under the table all you want I won’t shut up” she repeats with increasing confidence in “Under The Table”, while with a confident calm, Apple forcefully repeats “I need to run up that hill, I will, I will, I will, I will…” in the title track. Most of these songs portray a woman who has finally found her inner strength. Apple’s vocal delivery of the song’s chorus “I spread like strawberries, I climb like peas and beans, I’ve been stuck in it so long, that I’m busting at the seams” is so intense you feel she might physically explode.įetch… is a very personal record. “Heavy Balloon” pulsates with its blues/jazz drum work and rickety instrumentation. She’s exposed, damaged, cracking at the seams and exuding an anger that cannot be contained by customary song structures. The tempo changes(!) and Apple’s vocals sound almost off rhythm. The space that the beat creates starts being filled out by harmonies and backing vocals that bring to mind Bjork’s vocal explorations in Medulla. A scarce rhythm section of clangs, slaps, claps and bass drums forms a dissonant foundation for Apple to lay her vocals.

“Newspaper” (my favourite track) starts with dog barks, random background noises from Apple’s home (including what sounds like Apple asking her dog to shush), and sonic electronics. In achieving this, Apple has reached her creative peak 23 years after her debut in 1997.Īlthough these songs aren’t perfect, there’s true wonder in their rawness. It is an impressive shift for an artist who has been around for over 20 years and has already created her own unique sound. In that sense, Fetch the Bolt Cutters reminds me of Tom Waits’ Swordfishtrombones and Scott Walker’s The Drift. From “Under the Table” onwards, there is no piano in sight. But even in these songs there’s a dissonance that warns of what’s to come. With their playful piano and vocals, the album’s first two tracks “I Want You to Love Me” and “Shameika” are reminiscent of Apple’s previous material. I imagine Apple’s home studio having spread like strawberries into her living room and I conjure up images of myself on a little stool next to her, drumming rhythmically on my thighs to “Rack of His”, or screaming backing vocals for “Relay” while she’s vocalising with the knack of a modern day Kate Bush or Diamanda Galas. We visit her kitchen and listen to her playing drums with utensils in “Newspaper” and “Relay”. We meet her 5 dogs whose barks pepper many of the songs in this album. She spreads the concertina doors of her Venice Beach home wide open.

Well in Fetch, Fiona Apple finally opens up. I respected The Idler Wheel… for its musicality and high-art concepts, but found it unwelcoming. I have personally never been a big fan of Apple’s music. In less than one month since its official release, the album has been universally lauded as Apple’s creative peak by fans and critics alike and make no mistake about it… Fetch the Bolt Cutters will dominate end of year polls for its creativity, experimentation and lyricism, as well as for its #MeToo and female empowerment connotations. A lot of (digital) ink has already been spilled for Fiona Apple’s 5th album Fetch the Bolt Cutters.

Fetch the bolt cutters