Back in the Pulse

I can't claim any special prescience about Fiona Apple's genius, which seems to have been universally affirmed as if it had been previously agreed upon as soon as her new record, Fetch the Bolt Cutters, was released a few weeks ago. In fact, like everyone who raves about the record on this episode of the Slate Culture Gabfest, including the reliably broad-minded Carl Wilson, I have to confess that I mostly admired her at arm's length until right about now. In fact I didn't quite realize until I downloaded Fetch that I already owned all of her albums—I'd accumulated them over the years, apparently, and was acquainted with some of their high points ("Fast as You Can," "Jonathan," "Oh Sailor," and of course "Criminal" and "Shadowboxer") without ever taking the trouble of diving deep or making them my own as a true fan.

Consider me a late and full-throated convert. In my review of Fetch for America magazine I noted that "Apple’s music has never been exactly easy to put on in the background—as with Broadway cast albums or a lot of hip-hop, I find I need to listen closely to fully enjoy it," but I have found that it "amply rewards the trouble."

In addition to hearing her new record as a kind of theatrical cast album, I noticed, while preparing to write the review and immersing myself happily in her five-album oeuvre, that she has a pronounced proclivity not only for crunchy chords (more harmony crack for me) but for triple meters. It's almost a tic. I even went so far as to tally them, to wit:

As I noted in a thread on Twitter, of the 56 songs she's released on her 5 albums, 36 have (or are underpinned by) some kind of triple meter (3/4, 6/8, or 12/8). What might be thought of as her signature rhythm, which is most prevalent, is a kind of galloping 12/8. "Better Version of Me" is one of the best illustrations but there are tons of them ("Shameika" is another, in a more intense mode).

There are also lots of more or less straightforward waltzes, including one of my favorites, "Jonathan."

Songs like "Fast as You Can" and "Relay" make showy changes back and forth from 4/4 to a version of 6/8.


Then there are some borderline cases where I can feel a 12/8 or 6/8 under the 4/4: "Every Single Night" and "Oh Well" and "On the Bound" and "Window."


Speaking of "Window," a theory: Fiona recently confessed to Emily Nussbaum a predilection for love triangles, both in life and song. Love triangles were also the reason Sondheim gave for writing A Little Night Music entirely in triple meters. #greatminds 


Finally, just because I wanted to, I notated the main figures of Fetch's arresting opener, "I Want You to Love Me."