Christmastide

Album review

At the close of 2020, a year of unexpected change and intensity across the globe, piano maestro and singer/songwriter Tori Amos gifted fans with a four-track holiday EP, Christmastide. Returning to the seasonal realm for the first time since 2009's Midwinter Graces, Amos aimed to provide solace and lift spirits after a tumultuous year rocked by the COVID-19 pandemic, social unrest, and an ugly U.S. presidential election cycle, comforting listeners during a unique yuletide season where more families than usual would be separated by social distancing, politics, and quarantine. Joining her for the snow-covered journey are familiar faces from eras past, namely drummer Matt Chamberlain and bassist Jon Evans, who were an integral part of Amos' vision for the better part of a decade. Together, the trio conjure sonic warmth that will be instantly familiar to diehards, recalling Amos' 2000s run from Scarlet's Walk to American Doll Posse. Opening with the appropriately festive "Christmastide," Amos sets the stage with sparkling piano, the full breadth of her rhythmic duo, and angelic vocal harmony with her daughter, Natashya Hawley, before plunging into a darker and more bittersweet space with the dramatic "Circle of Seasons" and pensive "Holly," a pair of standouts that are most evocative of Amos' classic sound. On robust closer "Better Angels," Amos sings, "Oh, what a year to be here/on this little rock, third from the sun/And we need some mercy." Weary but hopeful, she beseeches the heavens to "help us, save us" as Chamberlain's drums crash atop Evans' grooves, a rallying cry to harness as much power as we can muster for a better, brighter future. Although frustratingly short -- a full album in this vein might have been her best in a decade -- Christmastide is an absolute treat and one of the better things to come of a very trying year.

© Neil Z. Yeung /TiVo