Tori Amos launches new album Native Invader at the Courtyard Theatre

31^st August 2017

Bev Lung

Bev Lung

31 August 2017

With a career spanning over 30 years, Tori Amos has an extensive list of hits and releases to her name – and she is about to add her 15^th album, Native Invader, to the collection. To celebrate the launch, Decca Records hosted an intimate concert at Hoxton’s Courtyard Theatre, with just a piano, keyboard, spotlight and the singer-songwriter: a simple but spellbinding showcase of tracks new and old.

There’s something meditative about Amos’s music, as perfectly demonstrated by the soft trancy trills of haunting new track Reindeer King, which opened the set. Already, a strong sense of nature and symbolism was evoked lyrically, and the artist performed this confidently with her echoing vocals. She does not follow a song rule book, as evidenced by starting the concert with a number over seven minutes long; still, she captivated the room throughout.

“I’m trying to do things you haven’t heard as much,” Amos told the crowd, before singing tracks such as Ruby Through the Looking Glass, a lesser-known B-side from 2005. And, certainly, the music from Native Invader is a crafted, rarer sound than most may be used to hearing. Without leaving the piano (unless to play both the piano and keyboard simultaneously), the American singer-songwriter impressed with her musicality, getting so lost in the music that it felt as though the room became even smaller and more intimate than it already was.

In new album track Breakaway, the musician crooned about conflict, singing about topics such as blood diamonds and walls. In recent interviews, she has spoken candidly about how recent political and environmental issues affected her songwriting, and it is evident that this was a raw taster of what to expect from her latest record.

Amos closed the short show with Mother Revolution, playing to the strengths of her signature psychedelic sound. Her performances came complete with dramatic pauses and vocal somersaults, with some songs being performed live for the first time at the Courtyard. Indeed, longtime Amos fans will be pleased with this new material and should snap up tickets for her UK tour later this year.

Bev Lung
Photo: Tori Amos / Twitter

For further information and future events visit the Tori Amos website here.

Listen to Reindeer King here: