Tori Amos – Night of Hunters

Eyebrows were raised when Myra Ellen Amos recently announced that her twelfth album would be released on prestigious classical label Deutsche Grammophon, but a minute of Shattering Sea unveils a reprisal of the North Carolinian’s roots. Night of Hunters marks a return to the stark and candid nature of Under The Pink, yet Amos retains her latter-day love of narrative concepts and confidently intertwines the two disciplines, delivering her strongest album in over a decade.

A sinister music-box melody lends an air of Grimm-esque fairytale darkness to Battle of Trees, while Star Whisperer’s solemn intro is masterfully betrayed by Tori's radiant voice. The album’s golden moment, Job’s Coffin, finds her daughter Natashya Hawley assuming lead vocals – laying a veil of innocence over mum’s world-weary tone. The focus on delicate symphonies and baroque drama is a departure from her predominantly band-based output since 2002’s Scarlet’s Walk, but it’s precisely this break that distinguishes Night of Hunters as such a breathtaking return. [David Bowes]