Scarlet's Walk

To start (and to rant a little) I think it is a scandal that "A Sorta Fairytale" didnt achieve a number 1 position, or any position in the charts (well within the UK where Im originally from anyway). Not only is it such a catchy accessible tune, it is terrible that more people have not heard its beauty. The only reason I did was because I made a conscious decision to look outside the pop square for music...

Anyway rant over, A Sorta Fairytale is one of many great songs on this album.
To give the uninitiated an idea this is very accessible music. Tori mixes a lovely sweet vocal and soft instrumental backdrop with her trademark piano to produce an album full of growers that sweep you off your feet with their sheer gorgeousness!

Hard to give favourites but for me standout tracks include the emotive "I cant see New York" about 9/11 and apparently written BEFORE it happened which is pretty amazing when you listen to the lyrics; "A Sorta Fairytale" which Ive already had a rant about but is a beautiful piano led piece and very catchy even on first listen; "Taxi Ride" which admittedly is similar in some ways to A Sorta Fairytale but still warrants many many listens; "Virginia" which is a grower but I always want to sing along to, actually, damn it you really need to buy this album most of the songs are great!!!

Returning to the lyrics with that insight, suddenly the layers underneath the widely-reviewed obvious clicked into focus and it's all there - the confused ghostly voice in 'I can't see New York', lost friends and innocence in 'gold dust', and more. An interview on VH-1 (see my weblog for links to external sources) gave more pointers - even the porn star "Amber Waves" is a metaphor for the fallen grace of the nation. If all you hear is the single ("a sorta fairytale" - which has a firefly glimmer to it) you may think it's a loved-and-lost album like the other reviewers.

As I listen I am caught up more and more in the album - an exploration of the spirit of the nation of America, of the emotions and experiences following September 11, 2001. This is the first work to come out of that event that leaves me with insight into the people and the place rather than with a sense of a person scrabbling to build a response and coming up instead with misplaced patriotism or a warmongering rage. Listen carefully to "Scarlet's Walk" and in amongst the strangeness you may hear, as I have, the outline of a soul's response to 9/11.

The vocals are surprising low in the mix which although effective in many ways means that many of the songs sound more similar then perhaps they might. Likewise at eighteen tracks this album is too long and while there is nothing bad here a little cull might have allowed the better songs to shine that bit brighter.

The concept, a walk across a post 9/11 America, actually works surprisingly well perhaps because it is quite muted and never gets in the way of the music. There is a lot that is contemplative here but little of the angry rawness or just plain strangeness that characterised her earlier outings. But then she’s older now and seems basically happy and seems comfortable with that, which is all to the good.

And then there’s Gold Dust, which closes the album, about the birth of her daughter and proves that she can still do personal. This is quite simply beautiful and is the most classical she has ever gone. Sounds almost like Shostakovitch in places. The vocals do not simply mirror the melody but form an intricate part of the music in their own right, now prominent and dominant now subsumed by the piano and string arrangements that echo her earliest work. The song is utterly original and totally timeless. Like a lot of classical composition its appeal is not immediate, its not very hummable, but it has lasting beauty. Genius.