Album Review: Fetch the Bolt Cutters | Fiona Apple
- lifeisbella
- Jun 1, 2020
- 3 min read
Updated: Jun 7, 2020
This is Album #29/20 that I listened to for my 2020 challenge. I listened to this album 8 times for my review.
Here are some quick stats about Fetch the Bolt Cutters by Fiona Apple:
This has been one of the most critically acclaimed albums EVER. It's had so much buzz around it, I had to listen to it. And I'm definitely in the minority on this one. I don't really like it. It doesn't particularly pain me to listen to it, but musically it's just not catchy to me. I've said this before, and I'll say it again--the most important thing for me is the music. The lyrics are secondary. The music is most important because it's the most obvious thing, it's the thing that sticks with me during subsequent listens, it establishes the complete vibe of the song. The music is what sticks with me, it's what keeps me coming back, what sticks in my head hours after I listened to the song. The music has to be catchy and enjoyable enough for you to want to go back and dissect the lyrics. And the music just wasn't the strongest for me. There are no catchy hooks, no particularly deep or complex instrumentation (generally). The vocals or melodies aren't strong or pleasing. I'd say the music is actually slightly unpleasing, unsettling and cacophonous. I can appreciate the originality and uniqueness of that, but this doesn't make for an enjoyable experience that I'm going to want to come back to and listen to. I do think there is a complexity there in the music, I just think it comes off more messy than it comes off as genius. It may just be a bit too eclectic for my taste.The lyrics don't fit rhythmically with the cadence of the songs, and are very repetitive. This combined with Fiona's sing-talking, makes the album come off more as slam poetry than music to me (which is fine, it's just not my preference). I think Fiona has a decently distinctive sound, but within the album there isn't much variation and it all sounds very similar to me. From their song titles, I can only recall what about half of these songs sound like. I really don't understand the hype for this album at all.
I do like "I Want You To Love Me." That is my favorite song of the album. The intricate piano background is interesting, and the melody is decently catchy. I hate the weird dolphin sounds at the end. I don't know why these people keep doing that! When they do this it feels like they're just doing it on purpose to be weird and interesting. It annoys me so much. "Relay" was annoyingly catchy. I liked songs like "Ladies" that had a more prominent slow, easy jazz vibes. While I like the bits of the album that showed some jazz influence with its prominent upright bass lines, this was only prevalent in a few of the songs. Other than the songs named above, there weren't any other songs that I really liked, and there weren't any songs that I disliked.
Recommendations:
Listen or don't listen? Listen. With the overwhelming critical acclaim that this album has had, I would say it's worth it for everyone to take a listen. Personally, I don't quite understand what the hype is about but I must be missing something here. I do think it's worth a listen though.
Buy or don't buy? Don't buy. I personally wouldn't buy this album. I don't see myself really listening to the album in full again. As I've said, it's not an easy listen. It's quite uncomfortable to listen to and I definitely don't imagine myself putting it on whenever I need something to listen to.
I'd personally give this a 5/10 for my enjoyment. On other review platforms I may elevate that score a little bit, because I do appreciate the care that was taken into developing the lyrics, but I personally just don't really like the album. I didn't dislike it, but I didn't really like it either. It's very meh/okay for me. I probably won't listen to the album in full again, but I may listen to some songs here and there. I'm definitely still interested in listening to Fiona's previous works, and will likely still keep on eye on her future albums as well. Have you listened to this album? Let me know your thoughts down in the comment section.
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