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SHORTLY AFTER SEPT. 11, Tori Amos embarked on a cross-country tour across America and Scarlet’s Walk was born. The emotional 18-song road trip brings eight-time Grammy nominee Amos’ trademark poetical descriptions to a particular region of the United States.
Scarlet’s Walk is a return to the more ornate musical style of Amos, celebrated in her first two albums (Little Earthquakes and Under the Pink) but lost in more recent endeavors (From The Choirgirl Hotel and To Venus and Back). Amos describes the album, her first collection of new material since 1999’s To Venus and Back, as a sort of musical search for America’s soul.
The CD represents Amos’ Epic Records debut, after leaving Atlantic Records earlier this year. Scarlet’s Walk was self-produced and recorded in a studio in Cornwall, England.
Flickering piano music fills the touching centerpiece of the album, “I Can’t See New York,” a song about a woman who’s trapped on a hijacked airplane.
On the more upbeat “A Sorta Fairytale,” the album’s first single, Amos tackles the more time-honored theme of good love and bad times.
Underscoring Scarlet’s Walk are strong Native American melodies and rhythms that evoke Amos’ fascination with Cherokee heritage. On the album’s sole a cappella track, “Wampum Prayer,” Amos sings “Greed is the gift for the sons of suns,” a stark reminder of the often bloody way America treated the continent’s original inhabitants.
Also worth checking out is the limited ‘special’ edition version of Scarlet’s Walk, which is packaged in a box with the CD, a DVD with three videos and commentary from Amos.
It also includes a large fold-out map with lyrics printed on the back, documenting Amos’ journey across America, 12 perforated Polaroid-type postcards, stickers, and a small charm.
Later, on the album’s title track, Amos gives the Trail of Tears a distinctly Southern Gothic feel. In “Scarlet’s Walk,” a man with a badge asks, “What do you plan to do with all your stories?” and she replies that she plans to bury them with all the other legends, wisdom and “medicines” wasted throughout American history.
At this trying period in America’s history, Scarlet’s Walk reminds us to think, remember and always be aware of the past and of our unique land. This album is filled with great stories, esoteric characters and stunning lyrics and is a journey fans will want to take again and again.
