Fiona Apple has traveled to Middle-earth to release her first new song of 2022. The track, “Where the Shadows Lie,” is a part of the finale of the new smash-hit series The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, an adaptation of a poem by J.R.R. Tolkien that appeared in the original books. Though it’s credited to the series’ composer Bear McCreary, “Where the Shadows Lie” features Apple in a cameo performance where she lends her mystifying pipes to a gorgeous string arrangement.
Since her last album, Fetch the Bolt Cutters, arrived in April 2020, Apple has been doing a lot of advocacy work, speaking out on abortion and voting rights and Indigenous land acknowledgement. She penned the Audra McDonald–sung “New York Doesn’t Like Your Face” for Apple TV+’s Central Park in 2020 and released a cover of Sharon Van Etten’s “Love More” in 2021. Bolt Cutters took home a Best Alternative Music Album GRAMMY Award, and “Shameika” earned Best Rock Performance at the same ceremony.
“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,” JD Payne and Patrick McKay, Rings of Power’s executive producers and showrunners, said. “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.”
Listen to “Where the Shadows Lie” below.
