The Fiona Apple Thread

[Faulkner]

I did a search, so I know she has had fans on SON (great story in a 2012 thread from @beebs about her singing karaoke incognito), but just wanted to alert folks that her new album Fetch the Bolt Cutters is out!

 

https://open.spotify.com/album/0fO1KemWL2uCCQmM22iKlj?si=XGVdsamzS3umK5d-QC6_Bw

 

I go way back with Tidal and especially When the Pawn... and have enjoyed her subsequent albums (Extraordinary Machine and The Idler Wheel...) immensely.

[Taoboi]

TIDAL was my college years. 

 

So it's good to see she is still doing music. 

[Faulkner]

Tidal was beginning of high school for me. When the Pawn...  came out during my college years, and I enjoyed it so much that I wore that record out.

 

I loved this video from that album directed by her then-boyfriend Paul Thomas Anderson:

 

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[Taoboi]

See? That shows how out of the loop I am...I didn't even know they broke up.

 

For me, that was back when VH1 and MTV did videos and they were promoting SHADOWBOXER which I did not feel. lol. For me, it was when SLEEP TO DREAM that hooked me. I did like CRIMINAL before it hit and THE FIRST TASTE I loved with its desire and sensual sound (I only found out a few years ago there was a video to it. LOVE.)

 

However, I only hear her songs now here and there. You do remind me that once Lockdown is over, I need to get back to hearing her other cds in their entirety because her music (along with Duncan Sheik from that time) take me back to a different time of such creative expression in lyrics. 

 

ETA: I KNOW THIS SONG!! It was on an episode of FELICITY. lol.

 

[Faulkner]

Not too long after he broke up with Fiona, PTA took up with Maya Rudolph, and they have four kids.

 

I loved “Shadowboxer” at the time, but I don’t listen to it much now. She’s grown so much as a songwriter since then. “Sleep To Dream” is fabulous, though.

 

Some other favorites since Tidal:

 

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[Taoboi]

Wow. She HAS been a busy girl. Other than than FAST AS YOU CAN and LIMP which (other than her cover of ACROSS THE UNIVERSE) was the last song/video by her that air time when I was still in college and on VH1 and MTV and WEREWOLF, I haven't even known that...and more videos yeah!!

[Faulkner]

She’s done a lot of great stuff in the past 25 years, but she’s had looong gaps between albums. I remember the struggle to get Extraordinary Machine made and released in 2005 and seven years passed before her follow-up The Idler Wheel... And another eight years until her current album. It’s almost Sade level. Someone like Jewel, who emerged around the same time as Fiona, has had like 12 albums in the same period; the vast majority came and went without notice. (Not comparing them: Fiona is far superior.)

 

The last three songs I posted (from Idler) are really interesting and show how she evolved from the jazzy, torchy ballads of her early days to something more idiosyncratic but recognizably her.

[Faulkner]

Pitchfork gave Fetch the Bolt Cutters a perfect 10, the first such score for a new album in a decade (since Kanye’s My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy):

 

 

[Chris B]

Fiona Apple is my favorite singer of all time. I've followed her in real time and despite the wait  between albums, it always feels like the releases are on time. My favorite album is When the Pawn and Paper Bag is my favorite song. I don't think she's had a bad album and I've enjoyed her progression. This new album is just stunning! Many of the pre-reviews said it was such a different sound and not immediate, but I have been listening nonstop! This is definitely her most joyous album. I love the different subjects she covered as opposed to just love songs.

 

The one sad thing is she's getting the best reviews of her career and the entire country is quarantined so she can't even perform and enjoy the fruits of her labors!

[DramatistDreamer]

I still listen to Extraodinary Machine and know every single word of the title song.