Rising out of the muck and mire towards the light: Tori Amos’ music and Ocean to Ocean

If you're a fan, you probably know that Tori Amos released a new album at the end of October 2021. If you did not, you do now. It's called Ocean to Ocean, and before we get to that, here is an interesting fact about Tori Amos.

She helped Scott Berkowitz get the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network, RAINN off the ground. In the 90s, he was trying to get the National Sexual Assault Hotline in the US interconnected in the country, making it possible for anyone to call for free and get help. Tori became the first spokesperson for the organization. Although I've been a fan of her music since my former colleague, Linda Barone, turned me onto it, I didn't know about her involvement in this organization.

This is such important work. In the United States, every 68 seconds, someone is sexually assaulted. And every 9 minutes, that victim is a child. It seems that whilst so many are wrongfully imprisoned in the US, only 25 out of every 1,000 perpetrators will end up in prison. You can support the organization with a tax-deductible donation.

She also leant her voice to the Audrie and Daisy documentary that deals with the tragic assaults of two teenage girls and the ensuing horror that befell their families. One survived, another died by suicide in the documentary. However, since that time, Daisy died by suicide, and so did her mother. Tori wrote and performed Flicker for the documentary. Here's an excerpt of the lyrics.

Tori's work throughout has deeply spiritual undertones from her intense religious upbringing and her departure from it to her interest in mythology, indigenous cultures and her connection to the fairy realm. She has been deemed the Queen of the Fairies after all.

Whether she is sharing her own experience as she does in this work or the stories of others, she doesn't shy away from what some call a spiritual experience or awakening - the most human experience of all that we will live through - the dark night of the soul - the plummet into the void where the passage through it can be gruelling.

In keeping with the spiritual nature of things, she uses sound - the music and the lyrics as chants and mantras with their ability to create energetic spaces in the creation of the opening piece written for her niece - Addition of Light Divided.

When asked about this piece, she tells Noah Michelson in a fireside chat broadcast on YouTube this -

Songwriters: Tori Amos

Addition of Light Divided lyrics © Sword And Stone Publishing

In the lyrics, Kali is summoned. Kali embodies shakti - feminine energy, creativity and fertility. She is the Divine Mother who protects her children with a love and ferocity. She is an incarnation of Parvati, the wife of Shiva.

Dance of Shiva - Nataraja is a depiction of the Hindu god Shiva as the divine cosmic dancer. There are different dances of Shiva. In the context of the article, I am referring to the Tandavam or dance of destruction which clears the way for new creation. Shiva dances in a ring of fire surrounding him creating wild thunder storms throughout the universe.

The energy was palpable as we danced, lifting and extending our legs and twisting and turning rhythmically, balancing and repeating some movements as music played in the background. We were stirring the cosmos - balancing over the demon of ignorance and destroying the past. We were truly in this moment transcendent yet grounded shattering judgements of others & illusions. Wild thunder and rain ensued. This was such a powerful moment, I won't presume to speak for others but it is seared in my memory and a reminder that we are powerful beings. We don't have a recording of it like Kelsey but we can call upon the memory and experience when needed.

There is variety and continuity in this work. She continues to produce enough differentiation of sound and feeling, yet is undoubtedly Tori and still uniquely identifiable. According to a recent interview on BBC, Tori spoke about the driving forces behind the album, which included lockdown, the loss of her mother and the deep grief that ensued. She touches on the nature of things, exposing her heart and concerns about the world through her work and has never been afraid to do that.

To truly understand any piece of music, repetition will reveal more and more to the listener. But I didn't want to keep this to myself to wait to share this piece about her work. It's all over the music news anyway! Here are my recommendations or preferred pieces from Ocean to Ocean - 

Addition to Light Divided

Metal Water Wood

Ocean to Ocean

How Glass is Made

I have also included a playlist from SoundCloud. It includes some older works, covers of her work by other people and a live version of one of her pieces.

She rose to fame in the early 90s. A child prodigy, she showed her musical inclinations as a toddler. At the age of five, she was the youngest person to have been admitted to a classical music training program at John Hopkins University's Peabody Institute. At eleven, her scholarship was discontinued, not for lack of talent but she was pushing the limits beyond the structure of the program. A musical rebel then and now.