UPDATE: Fiona Apple Confirms New Album ‘Fetch The Bolt Cutters’ Is Done
It is criminal that we haven’t heard a new Fiona Apple album since 2012’s stellar Grammy-nominated The Idler Wheel.
But according to the former teenage prodigy, her 5th record is officially finished after years of meticulously tinkering and toiling with it. In a video entitled “Fiona Apple — 5” released this evening from her official fan-run YouTube channel Fiona Apple Rocks, the singer-songwriter used sign language to spell out “my record is done” with a nod of confirmation and approval.
The video begins with Fiona showing a scene from one of her all-time favorite films, Born Yesterday (1950). In the clip, actress Judy Holliday’s character Billie explains to her significant other Harry Brock (Broderick Crawford) that “some people are always giving it, some take it” and that she was no longer going to let him take advantage of her. Born Yesterday is a modern-day feminist classic in regards to how Holliday’s character; once given the opportunity to learn and succeed, found a way to rise above her oppressors and find true happiness.
There is no telling as to whether the clip has any bearing on the content of her forthcoming release, but since it is included with the announcement we can’t help but wonder if there is any correlation.
As soon as we have more information, we will share it with you. But for now, take a deep breath, because our favorite extraordinary machine is back.
UPDATE — March 16th
After several months of contemplation and meticulous adjustments, Fiona Apple is ready to share her latest work with the world.
In a revealing and thoughtful interview with Emily Nussbaum of The New Yorker, Apple revealed that the album will be titled Fetch The Bolt Cutters. It derives from a line from the British crime series The Fall, which was said when Detective Stella Gibson discovers and frees a young girl from a room she was tortured in.
The album will contain thirteen songs, with titles such as “For Her”, “Newspaper”, “On I Go”, “The Drumset Is Gone”, “Rack of His”, “Kick Me Under the Table”, “Ladies”, “Shameka”, “Heavy Balloon”, and “I Want You to Love Me”. Nussbaum writes that the songs are “so percussion-heavy that they’re almost martial”. Bassist Sebastian Steinberg; one piece of Apple’s small recording band, called the new album “very raw and unslick,” because her “agenda has gotten wilder and a lot less concerned with what the outside world thinks — she’s not seventeen, she’s forty, and she’s got no reason not to do exactly what she wants.”
A release date is still TBA, but we are advancing closer to the end zone.
Article Written by Drew Mihans | @drewmihans
