[Liabmeasez]

MOD NOTE: This shall be the topic for all the info on Tori's new album, Night of Hunters. Major announcements will be posted in this first post.

I. ALBUM INFO
Night of Hunters is a fourteen-track album with a string quartet, to be released on September 20, 2011


Outfit designed by Michael van der Ham

MAIN INFO
TRACKLIST

01. Shattering Sea 5:44
02. Snowblind 3:19
03. Battle Of Trees 8:49
04. Fearlessness 6:37
05. Cactus Practice 4:32
06. Star Whisperer 9:57
07. Job's Coffin 3:36
08. Nautical Twilight 3:23
09. Your Ghost 5:44
10. Edge Of The Moon 4:57
11. The Chase 3:06
12. Night Of Hunters 5:37
13. Seven Sisters 2:49
14. Carry 4:07
ALBUM MUSICIANS

Bosendorfer & Vocals: Tori Amos
Strings and Woodwind arranged by John Philip Shenale

String Quartet (Apollon Musagète)
Piotr Skweres – Cello
Piotr Szumiel – Viola
Pawel Zalejski, Bartosz Zachlod – Violin

Woodwinds
Laura Lucas – Flute
Andreas Ottensamer – Clarinet
Nigel Shore – Oboe, English Horn
Peter Whelan - Bassoon
Luke Whitehead – Contrabassoon

Additional Vocals:
Natashya Hawley as Anabelle on "SnowBlind", "Cactus Practice", "Job's Coffin" and "The Chase"
Kelsey Dobyns as The Fire Muse on "Night of Hunters"
SONG BY SONG MUSICIANS

1. Shattering Sea - Tori Amos, Pawel Zalejski, Bartosz Zachlod, Piotr Szumiel, Piotr Skweres, Andreas Ottensamer, Nigel Shore, Peter Whelan, Laura Lucas
2. SnowBlind - Tori Amos, Natashya Hawley, Nigel Shore
3. Battle of Trees - Tori Amos, Pawel Zalejski, Bartosz Zachlod, Piotr Szumiel, Piotr Skweres, Andreas Ottensamer, Nigel Shore, Peter Whelan, Laura Lucas
4. Fearlessness - Tori Amos, Pawel Zalejski, Bartosz Zachlod, Piotr Szumiel, Piotr Skweres, Andreas Ottensamer, Nigel Shore, Peter Whelan, Luke Whitehead, Laura Lucas
5. Cactus Practice - Tori Amos, Natashya Hawley, Andreas Ottensamer, Nigel Shore, Peter Whelan, Laura Lucas
6. Star Whisperer - Tori Amos, Pawel Zalejski, Bartosz Zachlod, Piotr Szumiel, Piotr Skweres, Andreas Ottensamer, Nigel Shore, Peter Whelan, Luke Whitehead, Laura Lucas
7. Job's Coffin - Tori Amos, Andreas Ottensamer, Natashya Hawley, Nigel Shore
8. Nautical Twilight - Tori Amos, Pawel Zalejski, Bartosz Zachlod, Piotr Szumiel, Piotr Skweres, Andreas Ottensamer
9. Your Ghost - Tori Amos, Pawel Zalejski, Bartosz Zachlod, Piotr Szumiel, Piotr Skweres, Nigel Shore
10. Edge of the Moon - Tori Amos, Pawel Zalejski, Bartosz Zachlod, Piotr Szumiel, Piotr Skweres, Andreas Ottensamer, Nigel Shore, Peter Whelan, Laura Lucas
11. The Chase - Tori Amos, Natashya Hawley, Nigel Shore, Luke Whitehead
12. Night of Hunters - Tori Amos, Kelsey Dobyns, Pawel Zalejski, Bartosz Zachlod, Piotr Szumiel, Piotr Skweres, Andreas Ottensamer, Nigel Shore, Peter Whelan, Laura Lucas
13. Seven Sisters - Tori Amos, Andreas Ottensamer
14. Carry - Tori Amos, Pawel Zalejski, Bartosz Zachlod, Piotr Szumiel, Piotr Skweres, Andreas Ottensamer, Nigel Shore, Peter Whelan, Laura Lucas
PRESS RELEASE

(via Undented)
TORI AMOS MAKES HER DEUTSCHE GRAMMOPHON DEBUT WITH NIGHT OF HUNTERS

NEW ALBUM SET FOR SEPTEMBER 2011 RELEASE

21ST CENTURY SONG CYCLE INSPIRED BY CLASSICAL MUSIC THEMES SPANNING OVER 400 YEARS

May 5, 2011 – (New York, NY) – Tori Amos marks her debut album for Deutsche Grammophon, the world’s most celebrated classical music record label with Night of Hunters, set for release this September. The iconic, platinum-selling singer-songwriter continues her legacy of ground-breaking recordings with this 21st century song cycle inspired by select classical pieces spanning the last 400 years.

With Night of Hunters, Amos carries on the classical tradition of variations on a theme: taking inspiration from classical forms to create a bold new work while paying tribute to the mastery of the original compositions.

On Night of Hunters, which she wrote and produced, Amos comments “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.”
“One of the main themes explored on this album is the hunter and the hunted and how both exist within us,” the singer explains.

The release of Night of Hunters will be supported by a tour in Europe and the U.S. starting in Helsinki, Finland on September 28th.

With more than 12 million albums sold and multiple Grammy nominations, Tori Amos is one of the most successful and influential artists of her generation. A pioneer across multiple platforms, she was the first major label artist to offer a single for download, has had her songs turned into graphic novels, and has produced pioneering videos throughout her career. She is renowned for her passionate and broad fan-base, her critically and commercially successful tours, and her ever evolving live show. Ms. Amos is also a noted humanitarian and co-founder of RAINN (Rape, Abuse, and Incest National Network), which is the United States’ largest anti-sexual assault organization.

For more details visit:
toriamos.com
www.twitter.com/therealtoriamos
www.facebook.com/toriamos
AMAZON.COM TRACK-BY-TRACK (LATER REMOVED)


Night of Hunters is a song cycle that begins with a shattering of a relationship as the sun begins to slowly disappear and dusk moves in. Alone in an old Georgian House on the river Bandon on the outskirts of Kinsale Co Cork Ireland, tori begins to piece together what has just happened in Shattering Sea. The "him" in tori's life we learn carries the force of tide and wave as she carries the force of fire.

She soon meets a shapeshifting creature named Anabelle who appears firstly to tori as a fox and explains to her that only with the night and darkness can we truly begin to see with our inner eyes. Anabelle suggests that a missing fragment in the couple's story lies back in ancient Ireland. She encourages tori to allow herself to cross time and space and go back in time mentally to where this couple walked these same hills but in Ireland's mythic past.

With Anabelle's ability to see the past tori reclaims a key fragment of her past with "him" in Battle of Trees. This epic battle took place possibly around 3,000 years ago. The battle was not only for those with physical weapons but always included poets on both sides who used the ancient tree alphabet The Beth-Luis-Nion (Birch-Rowan-Ash) to fight each other. The power of the poet in ancient Ireland was unlike anything in our modern world. But a poet's wrath, if skillfully turned on a ruler of an opposing army, could shame them to such an extent that a psychological advantage could be achieved for the poet's army.

Eventually in ancient Ireland, as invasions grew steadily on the island, the respect for the White Goddess was supplanted by those who worshipped the Thunder God in all his many forms. Our couple fought on the same side as poets against these invaders. We all know that the goddess worshipping culture was subjecated by the Thunder God and then Christianity suppressed any inkling of the goddess culture even further.

In Fearlessness, tori collects another memory of her recent past with "him". Doubt and Blame seem to have come between the couple. Here their life on the sea comes to life. On their recent Atlantic Crossing on his sailboat from the new world to the old world Outside Forces begin to pull them apart so that by the end of the song we hear: "Then that was when the Blame began, what were once two forces joined in Fearlessness."

Anabelle then shares her view of the couple and makes tori aware that "Every couple has a version of what they call the truth." Anabelle tells tori to call all that lies beneath both stories back to her own fire and to embrace the truth of what she finds. Anabelle has turned into her goose shape. Anabelle offers tori an elixir of cactus to open up tori's vision and her heart so that she can actually claim her part in this shattering separation from "Him". As with any elixir, it's job is to take the participant to a depth of feeling and understanding that they have not been able to achieve in the cold light of day.

Star Whisperer is where tori begins to sing directly to his soul. She refers to "him" as you for the first time in our song cycle. "He" begins to have a voice and perspective as he speaks to her through different instruments. The elixir Anabelle has given tori has taken her into the dimension of Star Whisperer which is over 9 minutes in length and becomes an emotional discovery whereby tori realizes that, "you saw a me I didn't want to see" as well as, " I saw a you I didn't want to see".

Next, Anabelle, as fox, asks tori about the day she abandoned her force of fire. She also warns us that "There is a grid of disempowerment" and that, " All forces are being called to dismantle this". As the constellation Job's Coffin looks down on Earth, we learn that Anabelle is here to call all forces, "back on line". She explains that looming in our present reality, "There exists a power of old who wanted Earth to be controlled".

In Nautical Twilight, tori reveals when she turned her back on her own force of fire - "I abandoned it rupturing a delicate balance when I left my world for his". She now sees what this has done to imbalance their relationship. She expands on the idea Anabelle planted in Job's Coffin about " a power of old who wanted earth to be controlled". The consequence of any force turning their back on their own power is no different than using it for destructive purposes. tori realizes she must make the choice to reactivate her inner life force.

Your Ghost is tori singing to "him" after having met his ghost. "Your Ghost has shown me our primroses could survive the frost if a gentle rivulet of flame is sustained tenderly." She acknowledges she created a forest of glass and that she understands now that he was also wounded in the shattering of their relationship. She also tells him that both of their forces have the power to "heal what was cut and bruised".

Edge of the Moon reveals a vow that "he" made to tori. She begins to remember what their relationship was like before the two of them allowed outside forces to pull them apart. In both Your Ghost and Edge of the Moon, we hear that there is a depth of feeling that still exists between the couple. The blame and the anger each had towards the other is transmuting itself into a place where the depth of their love for each other is stronger than the damage that was done to their relationship.

With that understanding of how she really feels, during The Chase, Anabelle announces she must go and leaves tori with the Fire Muse. The Fire Muse reveals herself through an actual flaming life-size fire that Anabelle dances around getting tori to show the Fire Muse the riddle she has been taught. Anabelle explains that she, in her fox/goose form, is the hunter and the hunted which carries the force of duality and neutrality. Although a different kind of hunter/predator force seems to be closing in around them, Anabelle must continue on her mission of calling all forces to wake and to use their powers to out-create the forces who have chosen to use their power for destructive purposes. The riddle Anabelle has taught tori is old magic and is teaching her the skill of shapeshifting from the hunted to the hunter, Anabelle's power. She warns tori that "out there", in order to survive the predators, she must out think them, out create them, and apply everything Anabelle has taught her, or she could literally lose her head.

The Fire Muse begins her message to tori with,"rose so red this night of hunters, find love instead of their blood by your thorn." The Fire Muse acknowledges that some of the dark forces gathering hunt for power, others, to invade children's dream. tori's first instinct is to for revenge against these dark forces. The Fire Muse explains that the children's dreams must be reclaimed. With the assistance of the Seven Sisters, a frequency is put in place to watch over the children's dreams and guard them against the dark forces that would invade these children.

The Seven Sisters bring tori to the force Love and for the first time she has gratitude for the people that have come into her life and even though they may leave, for whatever reason, they are not truly gone.

With the dawn comes Carry, and the sentiment, "you will not ever be forgotten by me in the precession of the might stars your name is sung and tattooed now on my heart here I will carry carry carry you forever."

Tori Amos July 2011
ANOTHER UK PRESS RELEASE

TORI AMOS
‘Night Of Hunters’

Release date: 26th September

Plus UK Live Dates In November

With more than 12 million albums sold and multiple Grammy nominations, Tori Amos is one of the most successful and influential artists of her generation. A pioneer across multiple platforms, she was the first major-label artist to offer a single for download, has had her songs turned into graphic novels, and has produced pioneering videos throughout her career. She is renowned for her passionate and broad fan-base, her critically and commercially successful tours, and her ever-evolving live show.

The latest addition to Amos’s series of ground-breaking recordings, Night of Hunters, is her twelfth studio album and her first for Deutsche Grammophon. This 21st-century song cycle takes its inspiration from classical pieces spanning the last 400 years, by composers ranging from Bach and Schubert to Granados and Satie, and marks the return of Amos’s piano to centre stage. It is also her first studio album exclusively involving acoustic instruments. The songs are arranged for string quartet and flute, oboe, English horn, clarinet, bassoon and contrabassoon in various formations. For the recording Amos has put together an ensemble of outstanding performers from the classical world, including the award-winning young Polish string quartet Apollon Musagète and Berlin Philharmonic principal clarinettist Andreas Ottensamer.

With Night of Hunters, which she wrote and produced, Amos carries on the tradition of variations on a theme to create a bold new work while paying tribute to the mastery of the original compositions. In her own words: “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. One of the main themes explored on this album is the hunter and the hunted and how both exist within us.”

INSTRUMENTATION:

Bosendorfer & Vocals: Tori Amos
String quartet: Apollon Musagète
Woodwind: Andreas Ottensamer (Clarinet), Nigel Shore (Oboe/English Horn), Laura Lucas (Flute), Peter Whelan (Bassoon) and Luke Whitehead (Contra Bassoon)
Additional Vocals: Natashya Hawley as Anabelle and Kelsey Dobyns as The Fire Muse

Strings and Woodwind arranged by John Philip Shenale
PROMO IMAGES FROM TORIAMOS.COM














UPDATES

Update May 4: Tori's official website has updated with new pictures, the album title Night of Hunters, a blurb from Tori regarding the album, and a list of tour dates.

Update May 10: Japan's CD Wow has a tentative release date of September 26

Update May 11 / June 15: Amazon.com has a tentative US release date of September 20 October 4th for the Deluxe Edition

Update June 21: Decca/Deutsche Grammophon lists more information regarding the new release in their Release Book 2011 (click here for a link to the full PDF file: 89 pages and 20+ MB). The book says the working title for the project is Restless Night (an early rumor that was thought to be fake) and outlines some of the details regarding the release.

Restless Night (working title)
CD/Download 00289 477 9429
Also available as a Prestige Edition
International release September 2011

• Famous for her clear voice and ability to craft compelling, emotional songs, singer-songwriter-pianist Tori Amos makes her Deutsche Grammophon debut with Restless Night, an album certain to wow her legion of admirers and win her new ones
• Restless Night boasts acoustic songs for piano and strings. All are inspired by classical music, and all are new
• As The Washington Post observed: "Because of extensive classical training, Amos is able to accompany herself with a depth and complexity few pop pianists ever achieve"
• Amos has sold 15,000,000 albums globally to a responsive, loyal fan base. Seven of her ten studio albums debuted in the top ten Billboard charts. Restless Night's release will be supported by a worldwide tour
• Planned for follow-up in 2012 is a Greatest Hits with Strings album to commemorate the 20th anniversary of Amos's recording debut

Marketing/Promotion tools

• TV spot
• Pre-promotion kit
• Press kit
• EPK
• new photographs available
• Cover blow-up poster & display
• new artist showcard
• DIN A1 poster
• Bonus digital track
• e-press pack

Click here to see the full-size image from the PDF file.

Update June 22: The album cover has been revealed by toriamos.com. It is posted at the top of this thread.

Update June 29: Girlie Action website has now a slightly different version of the first promo pic, by Victor de Mello.

Update July 6: Play.com reveals a 14-song tracklist for the album

Update July 7: String quartet's homepage says that they just recorded with Tori from 20th - 23rd June

Update July 30: New promo pic has emerged

Update August 2: Track by track introduction on Amazon.com (now removed from the website)

Update August 3: New promo pics on amazon.com (now posted on www.toriamos.com)

Update August 6: The album's length is 72:18 as confirmed by dollsbitches who got a preview copy.

Update August 9: The Apollon Musagete Quartet will be touring with Tori as confirmed on their website (concerts page)

Update August 16: Two full songs, "Nautical Twilight" and "Carry," have been released to Tori's SoundCloud. A dedicated thread has been created for discussion of the clips here.

Update August 17: Universal Music states that the deluxe edition has a bonus DVD which contains a 13min documentary and 2 music clips (Carry & Nautical Twilight)

Update August 18: Tori's Facebook page: WATCH the World Premiere of Tori’s new video ‘Carry’ from Night of Hunters, and Unlock a second exclusive track “Shattering Sea’ by SHARING the video!

Update August 28: Clips available on Amazon.com

Update September 8: Tori's Facebook page: an exclusive score (confirmed as the sheet music) and the two videos as well as behind scenes footage available when you pre-order the deluxe version of NoH on iTunes US

Update September 8: 1:30 clips available on iTunes

Update September 8: toriamos.com confirms dates for South Africa

Update September 15: Video premiere of Nautical Twilight on Brigitte.de

Update September 15: Full EPK of Night of Hunters posted

EARLY PREVIEWS
ninja and dollsbitches have had the chance to preview the album and were kind enough to share their views.
Their thoughts start here for ninja (someone else posted the ninja's info before ninja continued in the rest of the topic) and here for dollsbitches.

REVIEWS / INTERVIEWS
All officially-released interviews and reviews (newspapers, magazines, TV spots, entertainment/music sites & blogs, etc.) will be posted in a dedicated thread, which can be found here.

II. TOUR INFO
Tour Confirmed With the Apollon Musagete Quartet
Tour dates have been announced for Europe and North America and toriamos.com confirms dates for South Africa
We have a separate thread in the Tour subforum for all things tour-related.

III. OLDER INFO FROM VARIOUS SOURCES
From Cine Electric's Twitter:
Generator & Lighting package on route for Tori Amos album cover and interviews http://fb.me/uEu6nW6j about 18 hours ago via Facebook
http://twitter.com/CineElectric

From Tori's Pori interview last July:

"I've been approached to a do a really different kind of project, it's not announced yet...something fascinating. I've been approached and I've never done something quite exactly like this. I've been developing a musical which will hopefully be happening in 2012, but THIS is very different than that, this is something that *I* would perform. And so it's high concept...very concept-oriented. It's not a traditional contemporary pop record." She says this will likely be her next project, before another traditional album. "This little something..it's very different, it's not pop-driven and that's why I'm fascinated. Sometimes as a composer and a pianist, pop structures can very confining, especially after working on the musical. So fingers crossed that it happens."