Fetch the Bolt Cutters is one of those unusual albums that feels genuinely a bit sui generis. But one comparison does come to mind - it reminds me of nothing so much as Boys for Pele, in retrospect maybe Tori Amos's best album (although from the choirgirl hotel and to venus and back will always have my loyalty as my favourites). The similarity's there in some of the atmospherics (vocals sometimes, sprinklings of piano, and occasionally in its percussiveness) and the way little melodic and rhythmic elements and flourishes emerge at intervals from its overall texture, like small fragments of candy scattered and stuck to a carpet's heavy weave - but even more so in its uncompromising quality and air of individual seeking for a mode of expression through music.
It's also unusual in how excellent it is. It's impressive how sustained a record it is, considering its refusal to stick to normal pop song forms. If you squint, you can just about discern familiar outlines at the beginning - "I Want You To Love Me" kind of slides you in, "Shameika" is a cascade of surging verses, choruses and bridges, "Fetch the Bolt Cutters" has almost the build of an anthem - but it's all a bit off-kilter. Apple turns left where you expect her to turn right multiple times in each song, without ever losing the thread. The sequencing helps - in the context of the record's density as a whole, moments like "Rack of His", "Ladies" (which I think might be my favourite along with "Shameika") and "For Her", with their loping, intricate melodies, up-and-down hooks and jazzy touches, arrive as welcome song-length grace notes.
It's also unusual in how excellent it is. It's impressive how sustained a record it is, considering its refusal to stick to normal pop song forms. If you squint, you can just about discern familiar outlines at the beginning - "I Want You To Love Me" kind of slides you in, "Shameika" is a cascade of surging verses, choruses and bridges, "Fetch the Bolt Cutters" has almost the build of an anthem - but it's all a bit off-kilter. Apple turns left where you expect her to turn right multiple times in each song, without ever losing the thread. The sequencing helps - in the context of the record's density as a whole, moments like "Rack of His", "Ladies" (which I think might be my favourite along with "Shameika") and "For Her", with their loping, intricate melodies, up-and-down hooks and jazzy touches, arrive as welcome song-length grace notes.
