Tori Amos Blends the Personal and Political on New ‘Up the Creek’ Single
The second single from Tori Amos' upcoming album Native Invader, "Up the Creek," has been released via Stereogum.
The songs on Native Invader were inspired by a road trip she took in 2016 to North Carolina's Smoky Mountains, intended to help her reconnect with the stories and history of the maternal side of her family.
The song begins with the repetition of her Native American grandfather's favorite mantra. "Good lord willin' and the creek don't rise / We may just survive," she sings, continuing with her own method of fighting political lies facing the country: "If the militia of the mind / Arm against those climate blind." The song also features background vocals from her daughter, Tash.
Amos says that, following her trip, two events occurred which also impacted the direction of the album: the outcome of the U.S. presidential election, and the stroke her mother suffered leaving the woman unable to speak.
Amos released the ethereal "Cloud Riders," the first single from Native Invaders, last month.
“The songs on Native Invader are being pushed by the Muses to find different ways of facing unforeseen challenges and in some cases dangerous conflicts,” Amos said when announcing the album. “The record looks to Nature and how, through resilience, she heals herself. The songs also wrestle with the question: what is our part in the destruction of our land, as well as ourselves, and in our relationships with each other?”
Native Invader is her 15th studio album, which follows 2014's Unrepentant Geraldines. It us due Sept. 8 via Decca Records.
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