The Mystery Surrounding Fiona Apple’s New Album 'Fetch the Bolt Cutters'
Fiona Apple has always been a bit of a mystery. Starting out in the industry as no more than a child, she exudes a gawky sort of sexuality that is accompanied by her outspoken political views. Her career has been punctuated by spotlights in the media alternating with long breaks of silence.
This year, it looks like Apple will be breaking her silence by releasing her first album, “Fetch the Bolt Cutters”.
The release of the album was first hinted at in a one minute video Apple posted to her Tumbler page. The video was simply called “5”.
In the video, Apple is sitting on a couch watching an old black and white movie. She then spells out “My album is done” in sign language and gives the camera a knowing smile and nod.
Prior to the video, Apple had been keeping a low profile.. Her last album, The Idler Wheel came out in 2012. More recently, she popped up having a playful feud with Lil Nas X over claims he sampled her song Every Single Night on his Kim Jong mixtape track. After the exchange, Nas tweeted, “Me and Fiona Apple should do something together for my album.”
In reference to the current album, Apple explains her inspiration for the title. Apparently it was inspired by the British crime drama The Fall. It was a line used by Gillian Anderson’s lead detective character when he calls for bolt cutters to unlock the door to a room where a girl is being tortured. “Really, what it’s about is not being afraid to speak,” Apple says of her interpretation of the title.
Titles of the album tracks have already been announced and include, Rack of His, Heavy Balloon and For Her.
As for when the album will be released, that is a mystery as well. Although Apple is being advised to wait until October to put it out, she recently published a short clip of herself on her friend Zelda Hallman’s Instagram account. In the clip, she merely says, “Should I release it, like soon, like really soon? I think I’m gonna.” During press time, no spokesperson for Apple could be reached for follow up questioning.
Reportedly, the entire album was recorded in Apple’s home in Los Angeles for the better part of a decade. The singer/songwriter recruited a small group of musicians for the project including indie rock drummer Amy Wood, sound engineer Jon Would, bassist Sebastian Steinberg, and fellow singer/songwriter David Garza.
The musicians used household objects for percussion including dirt filled oilcans, rattling seedpods and even the bones of Apple’s dead dog Janet. They recorded most of the album by jamming, marching around the house and banging on walls.
Actress/model Cara Delevingne also makes an appearance doing ‘meows’ on the song’s title track. Apple’s sister Amber was called in to do vocal harmonies on the track, Newspaper.
While there is a lot of mystery surrounding the release of Fetch the Bolt Cutters, if nothing else, it’s bound to be interesting.
