Tori Amos has released a new song, “Speaking With Trees,” the first single from her upcoming album, Ocean to Ocean. The LP arrives October 29th via Decca.
On the song, Amos channels her love of nature to find something to grasp onto amidst turmoil. “Speaking with trees/Speaking of my grief/Speaking with trees/I’m almost sure/That they are grieving/With me,” she sings during the first verse.
The album examines the way people work through pain, among other topics related our current era. Amos wrote Oceans to Oceans while spending time between being on the road and living in Cornwall, Florida, where she experienced a “personal crisis” spurred on by the storming of the Capitol on January 6th, according to a statement.
“We have all had moments that can knock us down,” Amos said in a statement. “This record sits with you where you are, especially if you are in a place of loss. I am fascinated when someone has gone through a tragedy, and how they work through their grief. That is where the gold is. When somebody is actually at that place, thinking ‘I’m done,’ how do you reach that person? Sometimes it’s not about a pill, or a double shot of tequila. It’s about sitting in the muck together. I’m going to meet you in the muck.”
Almost shared the artwork for the project on September 20. The new record follows 2017’s Native Invader, while more recently, Amos released a book, Resistance, which was published by Atria in May last year.
Of the album’s inspirations, she added: “If you processed troubling things by traveling, that was taken off the table.
“My pattern has been to jump on a plane and go to the States. I would travel just to have new experiences. I had to find a chair instead, and ‘travel’ like I did when I was five – in my head.”
Ocean To Ocean is set to be toured around the UK and Europe next year, with the shows taking place in February and March next year.