Tori Amos returns to her humble beginnings, while finding ways to trudge forward along new territory with her latest offering, “Carry,” a song off of her 12th studio album, Night of Hunters, due for release on September 20th, 2011.

“Carry” contains the emotional lyrical out pour Ms. Amos is known for and holds our attention the old fashioned way, with no bells or whistles in this track, just Tori’s voice, her piano, and a string accompaniment. A little along the lines of some of her more stripped down songs off her 1996 release Boys for Pele, an album which utilized recording the piano sounds itself, but also recording the mechanics of how it worked as well. The song also has inklings of many of Tori’s early records from her debut Little Earthquakes, when it was just Tori, her piano, and other elements that helped aid the two, instead of the full on productions that most of her catalog holds.

A more technical review of the song will be featured in the 2020k review of the album. We need a lossless copy of this song to get a better understanding of what type of recording techniques went into the making of “Carry”.

The video contains many beautiful scenes and landscapes, and cuts back and forth between them and our songstress playing in a recording studio. With completely different lighting and atmosphere, the video can play out as if it were meant to be two different visual entities, that were later combined into one presentation, but it still holds an elegance to it and is a marriage between song and sight that is more traditional and holds a positive and entertaining state of simplicity. Miles better than the experimental and dull films featured on 2009’s Abnormally Attracted to Sin. (But still sometimes holds the same awkwardness. During the studio session scenes, it sometimes looks as if Tori is struggling not to look dead into the camera, trying to make it more theatrical with her quick movements. Perhaps I’ve got it all wrong and she sees a spider on the ceiling and keeps quickly turning her head to ensure it hasn’t moved closer to her…..or something?! I digress.)

“Carry” a nice start to the album Tori is about to release upon us. Night of Hunters will be released under the Deutsche Grammophon records, a label based in Germany that releases classical music under the Universal Music Group imprint, and yes, indeed, this album will be of the classical genre and will also be the first Tori Amos record made completely of acoustic elements.

If this wasn’t enough for you to swallow, the record will also be a concept album, with Tori Amos explaining, “I have used the structure of a classical song cycle to tell an ongoing, modern story. The protagonist is a woman who finds herself in the dying embers of a relationship. In the course of one night she goes through an initiation of sorts that leads her to reinvent herself allowing the listener to follow her on a journey to explore complex musical and emotional subject matter.”

If “Carry” is any indication of what’s to come, our bet is that the record will still hold a bit of an Alternative vibe to it, just with more classical elements as opposed to a full album of Beethoven-esque bangers. Whatever she has in store, 2020k is ready. You can head on over to Tori’s Facebook to listen to “Carry” and also take a listen to a second song off the record, “Shattering Sea”.

To celebrate the release of Night of Hunters, Tori has also put together a fall/winter tour! Check out her website for information on ticket sales and see the tour dates here:

09/28 – Helsinki, FI @ Ice Hall
09/30 – St. Petersburg, RU @ Oktyabrsky Hall
10/02 – Moscow, RU @ Crocus Hall
10/04 – Luxembourg, LU @ Den Atelier
10/05 – Paris, FR @ Le Grand Rex
10/07 – Milan, IT @ Teatro Arcimboldi
10/08 – Rome, IT @ Auditorium Parco della Musica
10/10 – Hamburg, DE @ Laieszhalle
10/11 – Berlin, DE @ Tempodrom
10/13 – Warsaw, PL @ Sala Kongresowa
10/15 – Eindoven, NL @ Muziekgebouw
10/17 – Amsterdam, NL @ Carre
10/18 – Amsterdam, NL @ Carre
10/20 – Oslo, NO @ Sentrum Scene
10/21 – Copenhagen, DK @ The Royal Theatre
10/22 – Copenhagen, DK @ The Royal Theatre
10/24 – Lucerne, CH @ KKL
10/25 – Vienna, AT @ Stadhalle F
10/26 – Frankfurt, DE @ Alte Oper
10/28 – Antwerp, BE @ QEH
10/29 – Brussels, BE @ Bozar
10/31 – Essen, DE @ Philharmonie
11/02 – London, UK @ Royal Albert Hall
11/03 – London, UK @ Hammersmith Apollo
11/04 – Manchester, UK @ Apollo
11/06 – Glasgow, UK @ Royal Concert Hall
11/08 – Belfast, UK @ Waterfront
11/09 – Dublin, UK @ Grand Canal Theatre
11/29 – Atlanta, GA @ Cobb Energy Performance Arts Center
12/01 – Philadelphia, PA @ Academy of Music
12/02 – New York, NY @ Beacon Theatre
12/03 – New York, NY @ Beacon Theatre
12/05 – Washington, DC @ Constitution Hall
12/06 – Boston, MA @ Orpheum Theater
12/08 – Toronto, ON @ Massey Hall
12/10 – Chicago, IL @ Chicago Theatre
12/13 – Vancouver, BC @ Orpehum Theater
12/14 – Seattle, WA @ Paramount Theatre
12/16 – Oakland, CA @ Paramount Theatre
12/17 – Los Angeles, CA @ Orpheum Theatre
12/18 – Los Angeles, CA @ Orpheum Theatre
12/21 – Austin, TX @ Bass Concert Hall
12/22 – Dallas, TX @ Verizon Theatre at Grand Prairie