Fiona Apple – Fetch The Bolt Cutters (2xLP)

Fetch the Bolt Cutters (2020) is Fiona Apple’s daring fifth album, made largely in her Venice Beach home, where the walls and floorboards became percussive instruments themselves. Unpolished and full of found sounds — handclaps, chants, ambient noise, even dog barks — the record foregrounds raw emotion and voice over slick production. Apple’s piano and lyrics serve as anchors amid the expressive chaos, turning vulnerability into power and intimacy into rebellion.

Each song feels alive — shifting, unpredictable, and defiantly human. Apple tackles themes of authority, gender, trauma, and liberation with unflinching clarity. Tracks like “Relay,” “Under the Table,” and the title piece are rhythmic manifestos; “Shameika” and “I Want You to Love Me” balance introspective melody with fierce honesty. Fetch the Bolt Cutters stands out not just as an album but as a wholehearted act of creative freedom — messy, brilliant, and wholly its own.

Reviews

“Fetch the Bolt Cutters feels more like a wild symphony of the everyday than any conventional pop record.” – Pitchfork

“The power of Fetch the Bolt Cutters is immediately apparent — in its gnarled, physical performances … its close-to-the-bone lyrical honesty.” – Loud And Quiet

“Fetch the Bolt Cutters is a bold experiment in pop craft, a collection of songs on which Apple stretches her talents in adventurous new directions.” – Slant Magazine