Leah Nawy: I remember where I was when I heard the track “I Want You to Love Me” for the first time. It’s the end of summer, 2021 is coming to an end, I’m walking in the Lower East Side listening to my favorite artists’ playlists, nursing my first real heartbreak. I grew up playing classical piano, and when that familiar upright sound came in, I felt this immediate pull. I didn’t know it then, but I was listening to the opening track of an absolutely life-changing and formative album for me.
I’ve always been attracted to storytelling, above all. Storytelling with no bounds, where you can tell the lyrics and the music are there to serve the emotion, that there’s no boxes to fit into. Other honorable mentions for favorite albums were Twin Solitude by Leif Vollebekk and Radiohead’s In Rainbows, for that reason. Fiona Apple’s Fetch The Bolt Cutters does just that — it’s her conveying emotion in her rawest, yet most refined form, and a lesson in marrying honesty with musical instincts. It’s the kind of album so rich there’s always more to learn from, and I’ve found myself constantly coming back to it over the years. The 5½-minute film that is “Ladies” has a melody and cadence that rolls off the tongue with such ease. Fiona is so good at balancing vivid imagery that is both poetic and straightforward. In times of anger, the penultimate track “Drumset” has been repeated over and over like a hymn.
What makes it my all-time favorite is how much it’s shaped me, not just as a listener, but as an artist. It’s taught me to trust my instincts, to let my songs breathe, to be okay with things feeling raw and imperfect. This is the energy I try to harness in everything I create. Fiona’s music gave me permission to let emotion lead, to tell stories the way they need to be told, without worrying about how they’re supposed to sound. ❖
Leah Nawy’s single “Mixing Patterns” is out now.
