10 Best Rock Albums Of 2020
4. Fetch the Bolt Cutters - Fiona Apple
Okay, can we all just agree that the massive critical reception of this album was a bit weird at first? I mean, after years of being some of the snobbier people in the music industry, suddenly this singer songwriter comes out and dazzles every critic, calling it one of the best things to come out this year. It may have seemed a bit much...and then you listened to it.
Fiona Apple's reinvention on Fetch The Bolt Cutters is nothing short of amazing, with each track speaking to each other in its own convoluted way. Though there are some subtle reminders of the days of albums like Tidal, the subtle eccentricities of the production are one of the greatest strengths of the album. With just a few bits of percussion here and there on tracks to full-on chanting on other songs, the entire dissection of Apple's struggles with relationships, anxiety, and her own sanity feels almost tribal in nature.
That's before you even get into the lyrics, which verge from a calm little look into her childhood on Shameika to one of the most unsettling songs of the past 5 years on For Her. Yeah, it's easy to lambast something that's being heralded as a critical darling, but sometimes those alarm bells are there for a damn good reason. Not a pleasant listen by any means, but a beautiful one all the same.