The 50 Best Albums of 2020 | Pitchfork

The 50 Best Albums of 2020 | Pitchfork: Fifteen%20years%20ago%2C%20on%20the%20title%20track%20to%20Extraordinary%20Machine%2C%20Fiona%20Apple%20declared%2C%20%u201CI%20still%20only%20travel%20by%20foot%2C%20and%20by%20foot%2C%20it%u2019s%20a%20slow%20climb.%u201D%20She%20worked%20her%20way%20up%20to%20the%20clear%20heights%20of%20Fetch%20the%20Bolt%20Cutters%20over%20the%20course%20of%20the%20last%20half-decade%20or%20so%2C%20largely%20at%20her%20L.A.%20home%20alongside%20trusted%20bandmates%20and%20friends%20and%20a%20small%20shelter%u2019s%20worth%20of%20barking%20dogs.%20The%20result%20was%20her%20truest%2C%20wildest%20record%20to%20date%u2014the%20kind%20of%20album%20that%20borders%20on%20literature%20in%20its%20ability%20to%20convey%20nuances%20of%20the%20human%20condition.%20Equal%20parts%20meticulous%20and%20haphazard%2C%20the%20self-directed%20songs%20pick%20up%20on%20the%20percussive%20thread%20of%202012%u2019s%20The%20Idler%20Wheel%u2026%20with%20elemental%20rhythms%20formed%2C%20in%20part%2C%20by%20handclaps%2C%20floorstomps%2C%20and%20furniture-banging.%20But%20the%20raw%20energy%20of%20Apple%u2019s%20voice%20is%20the%20album%u2019s%20life%20force%2C%20and%20there%u2019s%20no%20mistaking%20the%20subjects%20of%20her%20missives%u2014be%20it%20the%20men%20who%20refuse%20to%20recognize%20their%20abusive%20behavior%3B%20the%20women%20who%2C%20like%20Apple%2C%20were%20conditioned%20to%20compete%20with%20other%20women%3B%20the%20mean%20girls%20and%20those%20who%20called%20their%20bullshit%3B%20the%20users%20and%20the%20silencers%3B%20the%20people%20she%20fears%20will%20leave%20her.%20%u201CI%20grew%20up%20in%20the%20shoes%20they%20told%20me%20I%20could%20fill%2C%20shoes%20that%20were%20not%20made%20for%20running%20up%20that%20hill/And%20I%20need%20to%20run%20up%20that%20hill%2C%20I%20need%20to%20run%20up%20that%20hill/I%20will%2C%20I%20will%2C%20I%20will%2C%20I%20will%2C%20I%20will%2C%u201D%20she%20insists%20on%20another%20title%20track%20doubling%20as%20a%20renewed%20mission%20statement.%20Fetch%20the%20Bolt%20Cutters%A0is%20the%20sound%20of%20someone%20freeing%20themself%20from%20a%20mental%20prison%20built%20by%20others%20but%20unknowingly%20reinforced%20by%20the%20self.%20Consider%20the%20load%20sufficiently%20lightened%3B%20on%20she%20climbs.%20%u2013Jillian%20Mapes%0A%0A