In a couple of days, ‘In Time of Dragons’, Tori Amos’ 17th album, arrives in stores and streaming platforms. A work of markedly political nature that tells a “metaphorical story about the fight of Democracy against Tyranny.” The album aims to reflect “the current and abhorrent non-accidental destruction of democracy in real time by the “lizard demons who believe in dictators,” in their usurpation of America.” Trump, Netanyahu, they call you.
‘In Time of Dragons’ has been released with three singles so far. The latest of them, ‘Gasoline Girls’, may be one of the most immediate of her recent career. With a 100% Kate Bush melody, but a piano instrumentation more typical of her album ‘Boys for Pele’ (1996), Amos tells a biker-themed story, starring travelers crossing a dangerous and authoritarian world.
Before that came the opening song, ‘Shush’, a cut of more than six minutes with an instrumentation halfway between rock and baroque, which could not be more explicit in its denouncing intention, since it parodies patriarchy. Appealing to hierarchies and democracies, ‘Shush’ is a satire on the silencing of women and their sexualization, although it is not the most accessible single of the set.
‘Stronger Together’, the first single released from the album, although one of the last cuts in the sequence, introduced the album with a somewhat more hopeful tone, although no less political. The phrase “now that you are a woman” suggests a trans interpretation, and the song defends unity in the face of “threatening times” full of “diabolical crimes.” Its instrumentation with new age echoes seeks to comfort and uplift, as does its message “together we are stronger.”
Amos has recently announced an extensive European tour for 2026, although at the moment it will not go through Spain, but will go through many other cities such as Paris or Berlin. Her latest album, ‘Ocean to Ocean’, was released in 2021 and we were able to discuss it with her in an interview.
