“I’ve waited many years….” Fiona Apple begins to sing at the start of her new album, Fetch The Bolt Cutters. One could imagine it’s a nod to her dedicated fanbase who have been waiting not-so-patiently since 2012 for new music from the reclusive artist.

“Should I release it? Like, soon? Like, really soon? I think I’m gonna,” Apple teased on camera via her friend Zelda Hallman’s Twitter at the end of March. The accompanying caption adds: “They are telling her she should release the album in October.” “They” is likely referring to her label or management in hopes they can gain commercial success once the music industry rebounds following the COVID-19 pandemic.

But Apple does things when she wants and how she wants, her latest work is no exception. Throughout her 24 year career, she has never been easy to predict. Each one of her releases signifies a culmination of her feelings in her own chaotically wonderful way. In our attempt to better understand the enigma that is Fiona Apple, we look back on her modestly sporadic but marvellous discography.

Life #1: Tidal

Apple made her debut in 1996 with her first album Tidal, a commercial success that spawned the hit song “Criminal.” It had a recent resurgence as the soundtrack to Jennifer Lopez’s now-iconic pole dance in Hustlers. “I’ve been a bad, bad girl,” Apple sings on the track, as she recounts herself using a lovelorn man for sex, only to drop him immediately afterward. Thanks to Apple’s gravelly, honest voice (both in music and in interviews) and her impressive piano skills, her collection of poetic and jazzy songs resonated with people and cultivated a loyal following.

Her flat acceptance of the 1997 MTV Music Video Award for Best New Artist drew more admiration and controversy, when she simply stated “This world is bullshit. You shouldn’t model your life about what you think that we think is cool and what we’re wearing and what we’re saying and everything. Go with yourself.” It became clear that Apple wasn’t comfortable in the world of the music business, sensed something was amiss and was unsure if fame was what she wanted.

Life #2: When The Pawn…

Following the release of her second album When The Pawn… in 1999, with it came pressure for more tours and public appearances, and Apple grew increasingly frustrated with the demands of stardom. She used this album’s original title, which was a long poem, as a response to her critics who ridiculed her for her candid interviews and outspoken personality. “I know I’m a mess he don’t wanna clean up,” she sighs on the album’s breezily dark single “Paper Bag,” as she documents her struggles at maintaining both her relationships and mental health. After finishing an uneven tour in 2000, Apple stepped away from the spotlight, and considered retiring from music entirely.

Life #3: Extraordinary Machine

Years later, and after much encouragement from her friends to record more music, (and a duet with Johnny Cash before his death), Apple started to create the album Extraordinary Machine, which came with a whole slew of problems. Leaks of unfinished songs were passed around radio stations, and delays kept the album in development-hell until 2005.

Apple’s impassioned fanbase was convinced the delays were caused deliberately by the label because they couldn’t find commercial appeal in the new music. So much so, that it led fans to hold a demonstration outside Sony Music headquarters in New York City. After re-recordings and much fanfare, Extraordinary Machine finally released and was named “Album of the Year” by Entertainment Weekly and The New York Times. “Please, please, please, no more melodies, they lack impact,” she sings on the album. Once again, Apple withdrew from her public life, not to release another album for seven years.

Life #4: The Idler Wheel Is Wiser Than the Driver of the Screw and Whipping Cords Will Serve You More Than Ropes Will Ever Do

After a few years of live performances with other artists and recording covers that floated around the internet, Apple returned in 2012 with her fourth album The Idler Wheel…

In what some consider to be her best work, The Idler Wheel… dove deeper into Apple’s psyche, examining her struggles with self-acceptance, trauma, and tumultuous relationships. Her production grew riskier and weirder, like the sounds of children screaming in the background of the song “Werewolf” or the wonderfully odd music video for “Every Single Night,” which had the singer dons a live octopus on her head. Over the erratic piano chords of “Left Alone,” Apple questions herself; “How can I ask anyone to love me, when all I do is beg to be left alone?” After the successful release of The Idler Wheel..., Apple seemed satisfied becoming somewhat of a recluse, living with her dogs in Los Angeles and being in no rush to create new music.

Life #5: Fetch The Bolt Cutters

And now, eight years later, Apple has returned with Fetch The Bolt Cutters. The new album (the name comes in reference to a line said by Gillian Anderson from the British police drama The Fall) continues to lean into Apple’s taste for experimentation, leaving behind jazzy pop songs in favour of something deeper, darker, more mechanical and fascinating.

Like the title of her 2005 album, Apple’s production in her music truly is an extraordinary machine. The crashing drums, layered voices, and sweeping piano never feels chaotic or overcrowded, but a well-oiled contraption that’s churning out something incredible, even when you hear her mumble “Fuck, shit,” and sigh after a stumble on the rhythm in “On I Go.”

In Fetch The Bolt Cutters, Apple confronts her standings with friends, enemies, and ex-lovers, while also raging against the chaotic political climate. “Evil is a relay sport, when the one who’s burned turns to pass the torch,” she repeats as a chant halfway through the album. It’s evident that Apple has been itching to sing about many things complicating her life and the world, and it all comes forth to a raw and stunning effect.

The wait for new music from Fiona Apple can be difficult. The singer is elusive and introverted, offering quick videos across various YouTube channels with vague updates on whatever she might be working on next, then goes silent again for months or years on end. It’s intriguing, refreshing, and sometimes maddening. But every time she leaves the public eye, she eventually returns with a collection of essential music that takes us further into the mind of the artist, drawing back the curtain a little more to reveal a detail about a relationship, a fight, an ex, or just how she may be feeling in that very moment.

“I move with the trees in the breeze, I know that time is elastic,” she bellows in the new song “I Want You To Love Me,” coming and going as she pleases, while also not losing her blunt honesty. “And I know that none of this will matter in the long run.”

Listen to Fetch The Bolt Cutters here! 

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