Tori Amos was one of the few musical acts to continue touring in the wake of Sept. 11.
Around that time, Amos was preparing for the release of “Strange Little Girls,” a controversial cover album that stretched the boundaries of “covering” a song.
She said later in interviews fans wrote to her after 9/11 asking her not to cancel, and even if she would just sit on stage and not perform, they needed a place to congregate.
So, Amos traveled the country — her first solo tour in years — stopping in nearly every state and absorbing the questions and thoughts of masses of people wondering what the next day would bring.
Through her experiences on the road, Amos developed most of the material for her eighth album, “Scarlet’s Walk,” also her first album with her new label, Epic.
The recording is a sonic journey following the main character, Scarlet, as she travels across the country meeting old flames, ex-porn stars, self-destructive personalities and corrupted evangelists.
Along the way, Scarlet crosses historical places, specifically those of important Native American events, often wondering how a people can be so patriotic toward America when they seldom understand her true past that stretches beyond colonial settlement.
The trip starts out quite calmly with the pop-ish “Amber Waves” and “A Sorta Fairytale.”
But, at the end of Beatles-esque “Wednesday,” Amos’ (or Scarlet’s, your choice) purpose is clear as she concludes thoughtfully, “Can someone help me / I think that I’m lost here / Lost in a place called America.”
Elsewhere on the album, these ideas pop up in lines like, “Tell me why does someone have to lose?” and “What do you plan to do with all your stories … we’ll weave them through every rocket’s red glare.”
On “Virginia,” a profound look into the progression of America from birth to present day, Amos croons “Do you remember when the land held your hand … Oh, Virginia / You can’t remember your name.”
An artist known and respected as a virtuoso pianist and talented lyricist, Amos is clearly at her finest on the tracks of “Scarlet’s Walk.”
On previous albums, Amos traveled into darkly beautiful and challenging territory with her music, but “Scarlet” finds Amos reaching back to standard classic rock progressions, making this album her most radio-friendly to date.
Comparing “Scarlet” to previous Amos outings or anything in the musical spectrum is a hard task, but it seems to exude ideas Amos touched on in all of her albums.
The confessional lyrics of “Little Earthquakes,” lush melodies and strings of “Under the Pink,” and the depth of “Boys for Pele” are present in the new material.
However, although a full band accompanies her on the album in “From the Choirgirl Hotel” and “To Venus and Back,” Amos abandons the electronic and industrial experiments she dabbled in for those albums.
The only sonic manipulations on this mostly acoustic and raw recording are to Amos’ vocals.
“Scarlet’s Walk” is packed with some of the most mesmerizing and ground-breaking vocal effects in recent years.
On the alternative rock track “Pancake,” Amos’ raspy voice seems to vibrate as she slowly utters the word “vortex.”
During the rhythmic “Sweet Sangria,” her vocals rise in volume and clarity toward the end of each line until every pop and crack from the back of her throat can be heard.
Lyrically, “Scarlet” is amazing.
Amos teeters between metaphors and symbolism, “When the bridges froze and you did not come home, I put our snowflake under a microscope,” and the harsh truth, “This thing you call love, she smiles way too much.”
Overall, “Scarlet” is a challenging pill to swallow.
Concept-wise, listeners would need Cliff Notes to follow the story. Luckily, Amos includes with the disk a full map of America plotting out Scarlet’s stops in each song.
Also, the disk itself is a link to “Scarlet’s Web,” an online world where fans can follow Scarlet’s journey in a more interactive way.
But, for those who just care to listen rather than learn, the album provides some of Amos’ most musically memorable tracks that will stick with them long after the journey is over.