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Recorded in mythical Cornwall, England, in a 200-year-old barn converted into a studio, Tori Amos’s new album, from the choirgirl hotel, is her first collaborative effort with other artists. Although the material is still self-penned and self-produced, Tori’s voice and piano are now joined by a band – in the studio and on tour – which is a dramatic shift for the intimate performer. As complex, passionate, sensual – and kooky – as ever, Tori always seems to be searching for something. That’s about the only thing that hasn’t changed... |
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Your new album is a bit more beat focused than your previous work... |
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I let the rhythm take over. It wasn't really easy because I'm a control freak, but I thought if I want good rhythms then I have to feel them, get caught up in them. This is the first album I recorded with a live percussionist, the first album where there was an interaction with other musicians. Usually, I recorded the vocals, the piano and the rest of the instruments were somehow placed around it. |
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Were you influenced by the remixes of songs off your last release Boys For Pele? |
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Maybe. I just knew that I wanted the beats that I created, not the beats somebody else created. I wanted them to be part of my music and not the other way around. |
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What made you decide that you want to record with other musicians? |
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I wanted to capture a certain atmosphere that was only possible with drums, not with additional drums but with real-life drums. I didn't want to be isolated this time around. I've done the "girl and piano thing." I wanted to be a player with other players. I want to grow, personally and musically and to grow you have to move on. You have to experiment, otherwise it becomes far too static. |
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This album differs from everything you've done before. How do you think your fans will react? |
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I can't concentrate on what my audience expects or wants from me. Each album reflected a certain phase and I just couldn't repeat it. I really couldn't. |
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from the choirgirl hotel sounds far more positive and cheerful than your previous work. Were you more relaxed or happier? |
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It started with a very tragic incident. After I finished the Boys For Pele tour, I realized that I was pregnant. It wasn't a shock. I was very happy about it. I was looking forward to becoming a mother, but then I lost the baby and that was really tragic for me. I felt so empty because I had lost a life. So I started to create something and put everything into the songs. I tried to create something else. |
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I'm sorry, that must have been horrible. |
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It was very sad but I'm not afraid of grief. You might cry. You might even cry so much that there are no tears left, but still your grief lets you make decisions and you grow as a person. Everything depends upon how you handle it. Whether you accept your grief, your loss and your mourning or whether you try to push it away. I think you have to live it up. That's my personal belief because it has consequences. This record got me through a real bad patch. I can laugh with this record, and I can move my hips to this record, which is really good for me. |
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You seem to be very interested in everything that has to do with mythology or parapsychology… |
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I think you have to know who you are. Get to know the monster that lives in your soul. Dive deep into your soul and explore it. I don't want to renounce my dark side. The truth has always held an enormous interest for me. |
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Your music is very intimate. Somehow, I can't see you playing in huge arenas… |
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I prefer smaller halls or clubs. My songs work better there. I don't want to shout over the noise, but even in clubs it can happen that people just won't shut up. Once or twice I got really upset and asked the guys to come up and take my microphone. That shut them up. Now I laugh about it, but if it happens at a concert it's very upsetting. |
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Your songs are quite personal. Are they autobiographic? |
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My songs are like friends. I have a special relationship with my songs and some of them I always want to have around me. I want to hold on to them and others are not always so close to me. They're still friends, but I don't need to have them around all the time. They're my creations but I don't need to have them around me. They get their own life and then I have to let them go. I had a hard time talking about [the miscarriage.] But the songs seemed to have such an easy time talking to me. Each song would show me a certain side of herself because of what I was going through. So a song like "Cruel" came to me out of anger. "She's Your Cocaine" and "iieee" came out of a sense of loss and sacrifice. And other songs celebrated the fact that I had found a new appreciation for life through this loss. |
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