Tori Amos - Night of Hunters (Universal/Decca)
4/5
By: Josh Daniel
People may never quite know what to make of Tori Amos, but her dark and spiritual side (one of her many faces) comes to the fore here, with her 12th studio LP Night of Hunters.
This is an album about the hunter and the hunted, which supposedly exists within all of us. Told via the story of a woman nearing the end of a relationship, Amos is trying to create an album of escapism rooted in reality, whilst also invoking some classical greats with an ambitious concept to create her own theatrical universe. This is no easy task but with the help of the impressive Polish string quartet Apollon Musagète and Berlin Philharmonic principal clarinettist Andreas Ottensamer there is a mature, evenly spaced feel to the song progressions and structure.
Sumptuous strings and elegant chamber music accompany her always heartfelt, yet slightly twee vocal. With Halloween in mind, the LP comes across as some kind of sinister tale set within Midsummer Night's Dream as minor keys and obtuse scales surround a lone voice, trying to make sense of her unfolding existence, all set in the timeframe of one arduous night. As Amos said in a recent CNN interview: “...I’m just talking about walking with each step and having a wonderment and wanting to be exactly where you are.” And it's this sense of acceptance (found towards the end of her journey) that gives the songs their emotional weight, despite their outer frailty.
Mid album mini-epic 'Star Whisperer' slowly unfurls with its sometimes perplexing mythological musings. Talk of the “...Seven Lords of Time”, a “locked up sky” and “fire and song … eight shadows long” accompany easier-to-relate-to lines such as, “I saw a you I didn't want to see.” This poetic acceptance of everyday troubles, still set amongst a fantasy landscape creates the intriguing complex at the core of this work. She even enlists the help of her daughter and niece, as they play various characters, guiding and challenging her along the way.
A song-cycle designed to be appreciated as a larger whole with recurring themes, this is one to wallow inside and imbibe at your own leisurely pace. It is a work that may take a while to accept, but like the album concludes, it's something worth trying for, despite the odd stumbling block (it's 72 minutes long) along the way. An enchanting tale of light, dark, hope and optimism. For someone like me, with a new found love of piano, Night of Hunters is a real treat for the encroaching dark evenings. Who said you needed a harp to be a sultry, literate chanteuse, enjoyed across many a musical boundary?
Artists in this article: Tori Amos
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