Sophia Michaels
Fiona Apple’s first new music since her Grammy-winning 2020 album Fetch the Bolt Cutters is “Where the Shadows Lie,” a song she recorded for The Lord of the Rings: Rings of Power. The Amazon Music-only track will appear in the season finale of Prime Video’s epic series inspired by the works of J.R.R. Tolkien.
“Where the Shadows Lie,” written by Rings of Power composer Bear McCreary, originally appeared in instrumental form in the series’ opening episode.
“The musical legacy of The Lord of the Rings brings to mind ethereal vocals carrying lyrical melodies over evocative harmonies, so it was my natural inclination to compose such a song for The Rings of Power,” McCreary said in a statement. “Based on J.R.R. Tolkien’s iconic ‘Ring Poem’ text, I wrote the song ‘Where the Shadows Lie’ as a theme for the titular Rings of Power, for the magic of mithril, for the sinister machinations of Sauron, and for his land of Mordor.”
McCreary added, “To embody all these narrative elements into one voice is no small task, and so I am especially grateful to have collaborated with legendary singer Fiona Apple. Inarguably one of the definitive musical voices of her generation, Fiona brought new depths and narrative intention to the song’s unique combination of my haunting melody and Tolkien’s ominous text. I have been inspired by her musicality for two decades, and I could not imagine an artist better suited to bring to life the mystery, majesty, and power of this song.I am thrilled audiences can finally hear ‘Where the Shadows Lie,’ a song we strategically withheld from the Season One album until now, so that it’s significance would not be spoiled in the early episodes.”
(Fans who digitally downloaded the Season One score via Amazon will receive Apple’s “Where the Shadows Lie” for free automatically now that it’s been released.)
Rings of Power showrunners JD Payne and Patrick McKay said in a statement, “When we heard Bear’s incredible arrangement, we knew we needed to find a singular, world-class artist to bring it to life in the richest way imaginable. We are immensely grateful to Fiona Apple for doing just that and more. As longtime admirers of Fiona’s work, we are thrilled and humbled to bring her voice to Middle-earth. We cannot wait for audiences to hear ‘Where the Shadows Lie,’ and discover how it ties in with the storytelling not just in Season One, but in the years to come…”
