[BestEverAlbums]

Today's album of the day

Fetch The Bolt Cutters by Fiona Apple (View album | Buy this album)

Year: 2020.
Country:
Fiona Apple discography rank: 2 (out of 5 listed on BEA)
2020 rank: 2
2020s rank: 3
Overall rank: 420
Average rating: 81/100 (from 701 votes).



Tracks:
1. I Want You To Love Me
2. Shameika
3. Fetch The Bolt Cutters
4. Under The Table
5. Relay
6. Rack Of His
7. Newspaper
8. Ladies
9. Heavy Balloon
10. Cosmonauts
11. For Her
12. Drumset
13. On I Go

indicates a top-rated track.

Top voted comments:

"Percussively, I listen and just think: "why aren't more people doing this?" and "why hasn't anyone done something like this in this way before?"

Yes, it's good. It's inventive, creative and just... very very percussive. There is a feel of all the sounds being created w/ kitchenware utensils and pots and pans. This is proof that there's more innovation possible when creating great percussion than just adjusting how you EQ the kick and snare.

To my ears it's not so jarring and esoteric as everyone is making it out to be. In fact I find it more accessible than her other albums. I've been unable to get into her too much because of her voice doing the half talking half rapping thing, but here it's so tightly coupled w/ the percussion and the rest of the song that it fits much better whether she is singing or talking. In fact she'll get done w/ a melody before I realize "oh hey she went from talking to singing and I didn't notice"

I can tell it's a very personal album for her and a pent up anger over some political and socioeconomic issues she's very opinionated about. I hear some Beyonce and Solange in the vocals and most prominently the lyrics w.r.t. the identity politics of it all. I'm not necessarily entirely ideologically aligned but I can appreciate she executed on her goals as an artistic statement.

Probably could have been 10 songs as the triplet triplet boom boom gets a little exhausting by the end but overall yeah pretty great record."
- corenfro (Rating: 70/100)
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"This is how you use percussion. Across every track here there's something brilliant going on with the drums, hand claps or dog barks. Tracks like 'Newspaper' probably make this most obvious, where the drums dictate the pace and tone across the whole song. There 's this really harsh and overbearing drumbeat all through the first portion of the track, giving things a massive feeling of weight, even though the drums and the vocals are the only things here. As things progress the drums get faster with each vocal change but it's done so smoothly that you barely notice. This builds tension throughout the track until, right at the end, they start to fade completely, so that only a faint guitar is left. It's such an eerie effect.

You get such a different effect in something like the opening track. It starts off with a very regular set of handclaps and light drumming for a few seconds, but it's when this simple arrangement stops that you see its effect. It brings such as tightness to the first few seconds, that when it gives way it lets the piano that takes over completely soar. No more percussion appears until late in the track but at this point it doesn't dampen the freer feel of this track. Instead, the drum rolls, along with the strings, give a massive sense of presence by reinforcing Fiona's voice. The drums feel like a natural reaction to the vocals, not a steady rhythm that pens them in. Finally, when things go haywire right at the end, the drums and vocals fall apart together letting the piano take control. What an opener.

The most ambitious effects take place on 'For Her'. When the lyrics first hit, there's no percussion at all which, along with the sweeter sounding vocals, gives off a misleading, lighter mood. On the surface this gives off the same free feel that 'I Want You To Love Me' had. Of course, the lyrics are giving off a completely different vibe. The clashing of these two moods give off a really disturbing effect. This builds when the drum do kick in. It brings us back to these harsher rhythms that seem to actively compete with the vocal harmonies. Soon after, the drums pick up a more playful and sped up style, only adding to the confusion. There's incredible skill in not making this sound like an absolute mess. Things really take a turn the moment you hear the lyric "Good morning, good morning". The drums slow and reach their heaviest, just as you hear the line "You raped me in the same bed your daughter was born in". It's one of the most disturbing and succinct lines about evil you'll ever hear but it's not just the lyric itself that carries this weight, the track has been building from the start to make this line hit as hard as possible.

You can hear these incredible techniques across every track of 'Fetch the Bolt Cutters'. With this level of lyricism, songwriting and album structure it might seem crazy to only talk a bit about the percussion, but for an album this dense, you can only get across how good this album is by talking about each part in detail. There is already plenty to read on all those aspects and there'll be plenty more to come. It's just so refreshing to see a record use percussion this successfully, when it is so often used in such basic ways, even on great albums. It also says a lot about the quality of Fiona Apple's discography, that I kind say for sure this is her best album."
- JamesMowbray (Rating: 90/100)
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About album of the day: The BestEverAlbums.com album of the day is the album appearing most prominently in member charts in the previous 24 hours. If an album, or artist, has previously been selected within a x day period, the next highest album is picked instead (and so on) to ensure a bit of variety. A full history of album of the day can be viewed here.
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Bluesky · Facebook · Spotify · X

[HoldenM]

Not to be petty, but I'm pretty sure my comment is still the top one. And you know what? I stand by every word! (Mostly because scores are made up anyway.)

Track picks
1. I Want You To Love Me
2. Shameika
3. Fetch The Bolt Cutters
5. Relay
7. Newspaper
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Inversion Verses
https://thesplitinfinitives1.bandcamp.com/album/inversion-verses