Maps of Music

Fetch the Bolt Cutters (2020)

Where the lyrics of Fetch the Bolt Cutters take you, and where it was really made.

Most of the album was recorded in Fiona Apple's own Venice home, and Apple said the house itself worked as a microphone.

Key places

Apple's Venice home studio (2020)

Recording site Motown Recording Studios — Most of the album was recorded at Apple's home in Venice, Los Angeles, from 2015 to 2020. Apple said the house was a member of the band. The point sits at the city centre, not at the house itself. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

Sonic Ranch studio, rural Texas (2020)

Recording site Sonic Ranch — The band spent three weeks at the Sonic Ranch studio in rural Texas, where they recorded most of several tracks. Sessions there were often unproductive, according to Apple. The point sits at the town centre of Tornillo. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

Album story

Overview

• Fifth studio album by American singer-songwriter Fiona Apple
• Released April 17, 2020, her first release since The Idler Wheel... in 2012
• Recorded 2015 to 2020, largely at Apple's home in Venice, Los Angeles
• Produced and performed by Apple with Amy Aileen Wood, Sebastian Steinberg, and Davíd Garza
• Built on unconventional percussion, including found objects not originally meant as instruments
• Core theme: freedom from oppression
• Title quotes the TV series The Fall
• Covers complex relationships with other women, bullying, and sexual assault
• Often called Apple's most humorous album
• Released during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic

Background

• In 2012, after The Idler Wheel..., Apple began planning a new album, with ideas of a concept album based on her Venice Beach home or the Pando tree cluster in Utah
• Rehearsals began in February 2015 with bandmates Sebastian Steinberg, Amy Aileen Wood, and Davíd Garza
• Early sessions ran in July 2015 at the Sonic Ranch studio in rural Texas and were often unproductive
• Work then moved back to Los Angeles, first to Stanley Recordings, and then to Apple's home studio
• Apple said she chose to record at home to repay the house that had shaped her into an adult
• Epic Records had planned an October release, but Apple pushed for an early release
• Apple announced the album in a New Yorker profile on March 16, 2020

Recording

• Much of the home recording was done in GarageBand
• Apple credits the unedited vocals and long takes to not knowing how to edit the takes
• Long takes captured instruments being struck against surfaces and objects
• The result was what Apple called percussion orchestras, especially on Newspaper and the title track
• Further sessions for Newspaper and Heavy Balloon took place at engineer Dave Way's private studio, Waystation
• Mixing had begun by July 2019
• Apple said she had finished recording in March 2020

Cover

• Artwork designed by band member Davíd Garza
• The cover photo is a picture Apple had taken of herself two or three years earlier

Sources: en.wikipedia.org · es.wikipedia.org

Tracklist

Sources: musicbrainz.org

Artist

Early life

• Born Fiona Apple McAfee-Maggart on September 13, 1977, in New York City.
• Daughter of singer Diane McAfee and actor Brandon Maggart; raised between New York and Los Angeles.
• Began writing songs at age eight; influenced by Billie Holiday and Ella Fitzgerald.

Career

• Debut album Tidal (1996) won a Grammy Award for Best Female Rock Performance for "Criminal".
• Second album When the Pawn... (1999) was produced by Jon Brion and received critical acclaim.
• Third album Extraordinary Machine (2005) was remade after Apple's dissatisfaction with the first production.
• The Idler Wheel... (2012) became her most successful album on the Billboard 200, peaking at number three.
• Fetch the Bolt Cutters (2020) won Grammy Awards for Best Alternative Music Album and Best Rock Performance.

Recognition

• All five studio albums reached the top 20 on the Billboard 200.
• Three of her albums appear on Rolling Stone's "500 Greatest Albums of All Time" list.

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Reception

At release

• Fetch the Bolt Cutters received widespread acclaim. At review aggregator Metacritic, the release received a weighted average score of 98 out of 100, based on 28 reviews, making it the second-highest rated album in the website's history.
• Pitchfork gave it its first perfect score for a new album since My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy in 2010, and Jenn Pelly described it as an unyielding masterpiece.
• Stephen Thomas Erlewine of AllMusic wrote that it delivers surprises that delight and bruise at a rapid pace.
• Robert Christgau assigned the album an A rating.
• Claire Shaffer of Rolling Stone named it Apple's best album.
• Laura Barton of The Guardian gave it five stars and praised the refusal to be silenced.
• Will Hodgkinson of The Times called it a totally original, utterly compelling album.
• Neil McCormick of The Daily Telegraph described it as a masterpiece for the #MeToo era.

Records

• On the US Billboard 200, the album debuted at number four with 44,000 equivalent album units.
• It debuted at number one on Top Album Sales, Top Alternative Albums, and Top Rock Albums.
• It was Apple's first album to peak at number one on an all-genre US album chart.
• It charted in the top 10 in Canada and the top 15 in Australia and New Zealand.
• It won the Grammy Award for Best Alternative Music Album at the 63rd Annual Grammy Awards.
• The lead single Shameika won the Grammy Award for Best Rock Performance.

Sources: en.wikipedia.org · es.wikipedia.org · pt.wikipedia.org

Trivia

• The album's artwork was designed by band member Davíd Garza, following the decision to release the album early.
• The title track quotes Kate Bush's 1985 single Running Up That Hill.
• Apple did not attend the 63rd Annual Grammy Awards ceremony, despite the album's wins.
• Friends and label pressure: King Princess encouraged the early release, and Apple wanted to avoid stressful press commitments.
• The album's back cover notes it was made on unceded Tongva, Mescalero Apache, and Suma territories.

Sources: en.wikipedia.org · es.wikipedia.org

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