Tori Amos Holiday Album Part I

During her summer tour for her last album, Abnormally Attracted to Sin, firebrand musician Tori Amos spoke (at that time off the record) about her upcoming seasonal album, which comes out today. This is part 1 of the interview. Part 2, in which we discuss sin, touring, and gay marriage, will follow next week.

Are you particularly experimental when you're recording?
On the sonic side, my interest in [experimentation] has grown over the years. I think before, when I was only a singer-songwriter, you think of the musicians as backup surrounding you and your songs. After a while of doing this, if you're still passionate about making music, maybe you think, If [the] composer is really energized by these amazing musicians, why don't I compose things that aren't always just around the piano player?

I realized that [my] records have not centered on the piano for a while. I think that if they would have, I wouldn't have the career that I have. I wouldn't have grown as a composer. I will do a record [again] where the piano is the center, but I needed to grow as a composer, because at a certain point my structures started becoming repetitive. And I recognize this. So I started to infiltrate my brain with George Martin arrangements, all the Beatles records, and others... all kinds of records from all kinds of times. I always thought of myself as a composer first, never a pianist. I mean, I'm good, I'm OK. And so I didn't just want to write piano music, I wanted to write compositions for the musicians where Jon [Evans, bass player] and Matt [Chamberlain, drummer] and John Philip [flute, strings] would turn around and say "Wow."

Sort of like an architect with these plans to build the World Trade Center. You're stepping out of your safe zone when you're not just building beautiful houses. You say no. You build these places that have many rooms that interconnect, and as a composer, I began to see, OK, I've been building planets, then you build solar systems, and then you want to build a galaxy. And it has to interweave with each other. That's what a double album is, it's building a sonic galaxy, and if you don't appreciate that form, then there's no way you can analyze what it is. Some people will say, "Well, I don't like novels that are longer than 200 pages." Well then, if you're given a 500-page novel, you shouldn't even read it. Because I studied the double-album form now for about, intensely, for four years, it's been burning in my soul. Abbey Road -- it was one of the most important records of my life. It's why I fought the professors at the Peabody [Conservatory of Music, where Amos studied as a child]. So yes, the arrangements, the production, the composition, all of that, in a double-album form, has been my goal my whole life. To write a double album that I can turn around and say, yeah, that's right. This might sound crazy, but next project that I do -- I might do something else. I might do a different form.

You seem to be very happy.
I've had to go through some tests in the last couple of years. You know, lots of changes. I think leaving Sony [in 2008] was maybe the beginning of that kind of...I don't know, what do you call it...wake-up call? Or emancipation? Or to say, "Look, you need to be in control of your life and make sure that everything is running really efficiently." So I'm in a good place now, but maybe that's because something you asked me before, that's because I've chosen to not just hand everything over. I'm more aware of the consequences of things in my life. Just, you know, being more responsible. Not just as a creative artist, you know. I mean, I delegate a lot, but I don't know. I'm realizing the consequences of things.

Tell me about this project -- The Light Princess?
Yeah, that's a musical [I'm writing, based on the short fairy tale "The Light Princess" by George MacDonald]. I think we're doing it in the right way. There's a lot of work that's gone into it, and more work has to go into it to make it great -- not good, but great. I have an entitlement vibe. I want it to be great. I want it to hold up against other musicals, not because of who's doing it, but because the work is powerful. That takes a lot of woodshed time. I'm working with people who do a lot of musicals. Tim Leavy's the producer working on Broadway now. And Samuel Adams is the playwright. He did the adaptation of All About My Mother, coming to Broadway. Really great playwright. But really, it's a work in progress. At the earliest it would be out late autumn 2010.

You're an attractive person. What would your career have been like had you looked different, had you not been interested in fashion, had you not been photogenic? And would your feeling about being yourself have been different?
I've put a lot of effort into the whole person. That includes the physical side as well. Because I've realized that the truth of the matter is that a lot of people become marginalized and judged because of what they look like. I've put a lot of effort into it. It's taken a lot of awareness. And there was a time when I could've really let myself go. I think there was a period if you go back and look at photographs from that early '98 period -- I mean, I look back and cringe a little bit because I did not listen to my stylist. I went against her. It's the only time I've ever gone against her.

Karen?
Karen Binns, yeah. And she said, "You cannot just walk out like you've been hanging out with your husband having a doughnut." And I said, "Why not?" Well...because. There is a level of artistry and performance and respect that you have to take to the stage. People are coming to see a show. And you might get away with it for a tour, but I then became very... I was rebelling, I think. But then I became very interested in fashion. The possibilities. Not just walking into an expensive store. I'm not talking about that. I'm talking about the art form.

Not just going to Barneys and buying very expensive things. No no no. All kinds of women who don't have a lot of funds choose to express themselves. It's an extension of how they present themselves. It's an extension, how they dress. And they make it an art form. And that began to inspire me, the possibilities. So I think I grew to love my body, and that was a big step. Being pregnant, I began to really love it. And then after I had Tash, my body changed and it became more what it is today. I got really active and I changed shape a bit so that I had the energy as I got older to tour. But yeah, I think if I didn't, I think unfortunately, you get judged by it.