Tori Amos will release her highly anticipated new album Ocean to Ocean on October 29, 2021 via Decca Records. The emotional collection is a universal story of going to rock bottom and renewing yourself all over again. As communities around the world suffered the loss of life, live music, travel, and much at all to observe, Tori had a difficult time during the pandemic. Lead album track “Speaking With Trees” honestly addresses the pain felt by artists in a period in which there was no hope in sight for live music. Amos’ pent-up energy is tangible in its perpetual-motion piano framed by Matt Chamberlain’s turbulent Drums and Percussion. “I’ve been hiding your ashes under the tree house don’t be surprised I cannot let you go”.

Ocean to Ocean is an album of kinship and love, of emotional and geographical dislocation. It explores environmental concerns, the restraints of the pandemic for those on the cusp of adulthood, empowerment, loss & healing delivered with Tori’s trademark urgency and passion. For a record written within limited surroundings, two things are remarkable – its rich stylistic variation, from tango to wide-screen romance, and the big-heartedness of songs, which run almost like a series of love letters to family both present and absent.

“We have all had moments that can knock us down,” she says. “This record sits with you where you are, especially if you are in a place of loss. I am fascinated when someone has gone through a tragedy, and how they work through their grief. That is where the gold is. When somebody is actually at that place, thinking “I’m done”, how do you reach that person? Sometimes it’s not about a pill, or a double shot of tequila. It’s about sitting in the muck together. I’m going to meet you in the muck.”

Splitting her life between Cornwall, Florida and the road, her songs are written with the act of traveling and observing. Holed up in Cornwall, she hit a place of personal crisis. Having always been intensely affected by political upheaval in the US, Tori was dismayed by the storming of the Capitol on January 6. Against all odds, that crisis resulted in Ocean to Ocean, Amos’ most personal work in years – an album bursting with warmth and connection, with deep roots in her earliest song writing. She descended to an emotional state lower than she had been to for a long time – but the depths became creative, forcing a return to the kind of introspection she recognised from her debut album Little Earthquakes. 

A pioneer across multiple platforms, Tori Amos’ second book RESISTANCE, a New York Times Bestseller, was released in 2019. Unrepentant Geraldines was her eighth studio album to debut in the Top 10 of the Billboard 200 Chart. Her decidedly feminist stage musical The Light Princess debuted at #2 on the Broadway Billboard Chart. Nominated for multiple Grammy Awards, she was the first major label artist to offer a single for download, has had her songs turned into graphic novels and has produced ground-breaking videos throughout her career. In late 2016 she released the title song “Flicker” to the acclaimed Netflix documentary Audrie and Daisy, addressing issues of high school rape. A noted humanitarian, Tori was the first public voice for RAINN (Rape, Abuse, and Incest National Network), which is the United States’ largest anti-sexual assault organization, and continues to be member of its National Leadership Council.

Tori will be touring the UK in February 2022. For tickets please visit www.toriamos.com.

Photo Courtesy: Desmond Murray