Tori Amos - Night of Hunters

Tori Amos - The idea of making her twelfth studio album a classically-inspired song cycle actually makes perfect sense for this always-inventive songwriter...the orchestrated chamber pop, reveling it's "all acoustic" tag, focuses Amos' on her formidable talents as a composer of rich, intricately textured melodies...self-penned and produced, this is her first album for the prestigious classical label Deutsche Grammophon // Release: Night of Hunters (September 20, DG) // Sounds like: surrounded by a string quartet, flute, oboe and English horn (and more), Amos and her dramatic piano are liberated from the hip, indie trappings that have overshadowed her recent albums...not surprisingly, her loyal fans are embracing Hunters' flourishing personal touches and theatrical tone -- this is, after all, what made her early works so appealing...

Quote: "The protagonist is a woman who finds herself in the dying embers of a relationship. In the course of one night she goes through an initiation of sorts that leads her to reinvent herself...One of the main themes explored on this album is the hunter and the hunted and how both exist within us.” - Tori Amos // What we like: the gorgeously-rendered "Carry" -- reminiscent at times of Kate Bush -- is a marvel of sweeping, swooning power, a twisting, turning melody delivered with Amos' typically intimate vocal style..."Nautical Twilight" elegantly flaunts the timeless classical works and composers that ultimately inspired the heart and soul of Night of Hunters...Bottom line? Different and yet not so different, Hunters is infinitely better than anyone might have imagined...

Tori Amos - "Carry" (from Night of the Hunters)

Tori Amos - "Nautical Twilight" (from Night of the Hunters)

Photo Credit: Victor de Mello