Abnormally Attracted to Sin
Encyclopedia
Abnormally Attracted to Sin is the tenth solo studio album by American singer-songwriter
Tori Amos
. It was released in the UK on 18 May 2009 and in the US on 19 May 2009 as a digital download
, standard CD, and deluxe limited edition CD/DVD. The album debuted on Billboard 200
s "top ten" list at #9, making it her seventh album to do so. The album can be cited as the first non-conceptualized and self-proclaimed "personal album" by the singer-songwriter in over 10 years.
While Amos had previously stated that she would be releasing music independently following her departure from Epic Records
, a chance encounter with a former mentor of hers in the music industry led to a deal with Universal Republic Records, making Abnormally Attracted to Sin her first release under her new label.
As with previous albums, Abnormally Attracted to Sin was recorded at Martian Studios in Cornwall
with long-time collaborators Matt Chamberlain on drums, Jon Evans on bass, Mac Aladdin on guitar, and John Philip Shenale
on strings.
"Oscar's Theme" is the sole non-LP track from the Abnormally Attracted to Sin album recording sessions to be released as a b-side
. The track is available as a "bonus track" on the standard digital version of the album purchased through iTunes in some countries, and on the standard physical album in Australia and the UK.
and sadomasochism, both of which tie into the ideas of power explored throughout the album.
Christian Lamb, who has worked with the likes of Madonna
, Incubus
, and Ozzy Osbourne
, was initially hired by Amos to shoot footage of her 2007 world tour for an intended live/concert DVD. However, after disagreements with Epic Records
- the details of which have remained vague in the media, which has only cited "creative and financial differences" - Amos left the label and joined Universal Music Group
, temporarily stalling the completion and release of the DVD.
Along with the creative spurt in song-writing that she was met by during her world tour and while in California the following year, Amos also became increasingly inspired by all of the footage Lamb had shot of her concerts, and which he had already begun to organize and edit. Amos has stated that viewing the footage inspired certain songs, while certain songs inspired the shaping of some of the footage into several of the final vignettes.
As a result of this sudden bit of inspiration, Amos requested that Lamb shoot more footage. The live/concert DVD had suddenly morphed into a complementary "film" that would accompany her next album.
The footage was shot in HD
and Super 8
and, due to financial limitations, was edited by a series of Lamb's "assistants" causing noted criticism of the films' unfocused and, at times, disparate narratives.
Seemingly inspired more by her love of fashion
, canvas
art
and paintings rather than by silent films, The Road Chronicles is composed of sixteen vignettes in which Amos can be found “playing” herself, along with the archetypal "dolls” from her previous effort, in dream-sequences infused with myriad metaphors, symbols, images, locations and haute couture
fashion-pieces that are meant to evoke and open up the themes and experiences tackled on each of the corresponding 16 songs.
Amos, herself, has stated, "I began to really think about the idea of a story being told through the visuals and yet the song itself giving us all the information – that’s our dialogue. I didn’t want any lip-syncing."
About the look of the visualettes, Amos has said: "We wanted to do pretty much 8mm and more of a late ‘60’s, indie kind of feeling and that began the visualette world."
In each of the “small films”, as Amos also refers to them, she can be found in a series of scenarios – wandering along the shady streets of a random red-light district
; stalking herself in a cemetery; in the throes of a psychic’s reading and a manic ceremonial bath; cruising men late into the night in a shady bar; smoking and "cleansing" herself with ceremonial tobacco smoke – that are meant to evoke some issue or experience from life she is grappling with.
Along with portraying herself, Amos can be seen portraying “the dolls” from 2007's American Doll Posse
, in an apparent attempt at deconstructing that album's concept.
In these visualettes, all of the dolls seem to be “acting out” various feelings, experiences and fantasies Amos grapples with on the album. The final visualette of the DVD is for the song Abnormally Attracted to Sin, and has Amos entering a church and kneeling before an altar, seemingly coming to terms with her own spirituality and "a natural kind of faith", as she sings on the aforementioned closing-track.
"[Amos' 10th] studio release finds her in full command of her expanded arsenal, creating an overall sound that's as psychedelic as it is classic," wrote Billboard Magazine, adding, "the sounds coupled with [the] lyrical content [found on the album] — metaphors rendered through literary heroines, religious imagery, exotic food, cities as characters, triple entendres — make for a singular tapestry that, as the artist matures, requires less and less prior knowledge of her catalog to enjoy." Slant Magazine
gave the album a mixed, yet mostly positive review, exclaiming unapologetically, "It's a genuine relief that [this album] lacks the cumbersome structural conceit of Scarlet's Walk
or the dissociative identity disorder of American Doll Posse
. Rather than suffocating her songs under a pretentious broad construct, here Amos allows them to stand on their own merits and, in turn, demonstrates the superior craft upon which she first made her name." Slug Magazine called it "one of 2009’s finest albums," while the Los Angeles Times
praised the album's "canny balance between Victorian-inspired decadence, mythical pathos and arch camp." Entertainment Weekly
magazine noted, "Sometimes her brains get a little too big for her Bible. But when she's banging on her piano over layers of lush electronics, she's got the rapture part down."
Reviews in Rolling Stone
, Mojo Magazine and Q Magazine were less favorable, although, while criticizing it as a "long haul", the latter did admit that the album contained "some of the best [songs] Amos has written." Spin Magazine noted, "Amos writes no less penetratingly than she did on her first album about the way women navigate the intersection between sex and power," while Pop Matters lauded the album for its experimental sound, calling it an "exploration of the journey from that dark, quiet beginning to that beautifully indulgent conclusion," praising the album's "twists and turns along the way."
Music magazine, Drowned In Sound
, concluded, "Occasionally vague, sometimes incohesive and a little self-indulgent it may be, but ultimately Abnormally Attracted to Sin is an abnormally attractive piece of work, and another fine example of the shining talent that is Tori Amos."
.
The album itself was written and conceived in two stages: the first during Amos's 2007 world tour, while promoting American Doll Posse
, followed by a spurt of writing and composing during a second phase in July 2008, when Amos reconnected with her former mentor Doug Morris
while visiting California to promote a graphic-novel anthology, Comic Book Tattoo
.
During her brief stay in California, Amos revisited some of the old homes and haunts she frequented as a twenty-something singer-songwriter in Los Angeles during the late '80s and that, coupled with some of her own reflections and conclusions as a wife, mother and maturing woman, led to another spontaneous creative spell, providing a catalyst for "a second batch of songs", as Amos puts it, which, when combined with the initial new songs written and composed during late-2007 and early-2008, would end up fleshing out the rest of the album.
Due to both financial limitations and disagreements over the project with her previous label, Epic Records
, Amos abruptly left the label and the footage shot of her 2007 world-tour morphed into the vignettes or visualettes, as Amos coined them, that would be paired with the new album on an accompanying DVD, The Road Chronicles, as part of an "audio-visual project".
Postponing further work on the planned live DVD of her 2007 world-tour and using some of the complementary footage shot for the DVD to compile a series of vignettes, Amos turned and focused her attention on creating and presenting a multimedia project aimed at deconstructing her previous album's concept and exploring, once again, a more personal and confessional space in the singer-songwriter's life and career, using a juxtaposition between the visual and sonic mediums to broaden and emphasize the personal scope of the project.
Amos' brief stay in L.A. during the summer of 2008 also afforded her the opportunity to revisit her old apartment, in which her debut solo-album, 1991's Little Earthquakes
, was written, conceived and, in some instances, recorded. She also made a point of visiting the old church behind which the apartment was built. In past interviews, Amos has stated how songs such as Crucify and Precious Things were written while living behind the church, listening to endless sermons and worship-songs for hours at a time, alone, hurt and depressed behind her failure as a musician (1988's Y Kant Tori Read
), and her role as a victim and survivor of physical and sexual assault. It was a threshold moment for Amos, providing her a time of respite, solace and a bit of reflection regarding her life and past.
. It is a red-headed woman singing songs."
During an interview with Out Magazine, Amos used the song "Maybe California", a track from the album in which a mother ruminates on leaving her husband and child(ren) "better off" as she contemplates suicide, to explain just how personal writing and composing both the song and the record as a whole were for her: "I wouldn’t have written this record if I hadn’t been pushed — for all kinds of reasons. I don’t want to go into all of it but “Maybe California” doesn’t come from nowhere. You’re not able to write that by having a drink with somebody who’s had the experience and you haven’t. You have to be pushed to that place."
She stated that the mother in the song "is pushed to the point where there's nothing that she can give to stop this terrible emotional cancer that has taken over her family - her life - everything around her." Adding credence to the notion that the song is deeply autobiographical, Amos chose to highlight the despair older, more mature women, such as herself, face: "I began to realize how serious this quiet, tragic problem was and that it's not okay to talk about it, whereas teen suicide or early-20's suicide
- it gets discussed and it's almost something where there are [forums] for it. But mothers contemplating this - my God - they're just going to put you in a nuthouse."
On both the aforementioned track and yet another song, "Ophelia", from the album, Amos addresses her own moments of insecurity and self-loathing as a "mature woman". She observed, "The self-harming mind tries to gain [the] control that [it] feels has been taken from [it]. It's this very strange paradox where, by doing the wounding on yourself, you're in the power position. Although, the idea that you've become your own abuser - it's not necessarily being grasped. And so, you can step into that "Ophelia" state of mind - however old you are - where you start that downward spiral and you're not on the 'front-foot' anymore in life, you're on the 'back foot', and there's a victimization-energy around you."
In an exclusive interview with the German
division of Amazon.com
, Amos continued her emphasis on "the personal": “I think I’ve been having my own life changes happening just like everybody else, and being in California [in July of 2008] for a longer period of time than I normally get to be there kind of pushed me to a place of reevaluating where I am in my life and where I was while I was writing Little Earthquakes
. And so I think that’s – that’s what you’re hearing [on this record].”
Amos said, "My songs might be confessional, but I don’t like giving away too many details. One of the reasons I’ve made ten albums and maintained my family life is that I respect my own privacy." She confessed, "At times, I have used made-up characters to keep the media at bay."
During an interview broadcast on youtube.com, "I guess the girl that released Little Earthquakes
was not a mother and she was in her 20's and there were a lot of things that she really did discover. She found her voice...and then nine records later, the woman who is putting out Abnormally Attracted to Sin knows what she did with her voice."
, with final mixing and mastering extending into the initial months of 2009.
Amos chose a dark and intricately "detailed sonic landscape" for the album, and has mentioned that the production that went into the album reminded her of the experience she and her collaborators had creating From the Choirgirl Hotel
(1998), which showcased various samplers
and synthesizers.
On developing the sound of one of the songs and of the album in general, Amos declared, "It became much more of a technology experiment [with] the piano being there but in this strange world."
Additionally, the album debuted at #2 on the following two genre-specific Billboard charts: the Top Modern Rock/Alternative Albums chart and the Top Rock Albums chart.
chart in May 2009, and in June ascended into the chart's top 10, making it Amos's fifth single to reach the Triple A top 10.
"Maybe California" reached #1 in Portugal.
releases, Abnormally Attracted to Sin is offered in both standard and limited edition versions, the latter including a DVD containing 'visualettes' that provide a video accompaniment to most of the album tracks.
Singer-songwriter
Singer-songwriters are musicians who write, compose and sing their own musical material including lyrics and melodies. As opposed to contemporary popular music singers who write their own songs, the term singer-songwriter describes a distinct form of artistry, closely associated with the...
Tori Amos
Tori Amos
Tori Amos is an American pianist, singer-songwriter and composer. She was at the forefront of a number of female singer-songwriters in the early 1990s and was noteworthy early in her career as one of the few alternative rock performers to use a piano as her primary instrument...
. It was released in the UK on 18 May 2009 and in the US on 19 May 2009 as a digital download
Music download
A music download is the transferral of music from an Internet-facing computer or website to a user's local computer. This term encompasses both legal downloads and downloads of copyright material without permission or payment...
, standard CD, and deluxe limited edition CD/DVD. The album debuted on Billboard 200
Billboard 200
The Billboard 200 is a ranking of the 200 highest-selling music albums and EPs in the United States, published weekly by Billboard magazine. It is frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of artists...
s "top ten" list at #9, making it her seventh album to do so. The album can be cited as the first non-conceptualized and self-proclaimed "personal album" by the singer-songwriter in over 10 years.
While Amos had previously stated that she would be releasing music independently following her departure from Epic Records
Epic Records
Epic Records is an American record label, owned by Sony Music Entertainment. Though it was originally conceived as a jazz imprint, it has since expanded to represent various genres. L.A...
, a chance encounter with a former mentor of hers in the music industry led to a deal with Universal Republic Records, making Abnormally Attracted to Sin her first release under her new label.
As with previous albums, Abnormally Attracted to Sin was recorded at Martian Studios in Cornwall
Cornwall
Cornwall is a unitary authority and ceremonial county of England, within the United Kingdom. It is bordered to the north and west by the Celtic Sea, to the south by the English Channel, and to the east by the county of Devon, over the River Tamar. Cornwall has a population of , and covers an area of...
with long-time collaborators Matt Chamberlain on drums, Jon Evans on bass, Mac Aladdin on guitar, and John Philip Shenale
John Philip Shenale
John Philip Shenale is a Canadian composer, arranger, musician and producer based in Los Angeles. He has contributed his talents to over forty Gold and Platinum albums, and over thirty Top 40 singles. His work has also been associated with twenty-one Grammy Award nominations.-Background:Shenale...
on strings.
Track listing
Bonus track"Oscar's Theme" is the sole non-LP track from the Abnormally Attracted to Sin album recording sessions to be released as a b-side
A-side and B-side
A-side and B-side originally referred to the two sides of gramophone records on which singles were released beginning in the 1950s. The terms have come to refer to the types of song conventionally placed on each side of the record, with the A-side being the featured song , while the B-side, or...
. The track is available as a "bonus track" on the standard digital version of the album purchased through iTunes in some countries, and on the standard physical album in Australia and the UK.
Photography
For the album's photographic component, Amos enlisted fashion photographer Karen Collins. "I love the way [Collins] shoots women," Amos stated about the photographer's work. "It's not vulgar or demeaning, but I find it just sexy. They look empowered to me, and I like her style." The setting for the album's artwork is a cream-colored hotel room, with various photos of Amos depicting different ideas of sensuality through images such as voyeurismVoyeurism
In clinical psychology, voyeurism is the sexual interest in or practice of spying on people engaged in intimate behaviors, such as undressing, sexual activity, or other activity usually considered to be of a private nature....
and sadomasochism, both of which tie into the ideas of power explored throughout the album.
The Visualettes
From its beginning stages, Abnormally Attracted to Sin was intended to be an audio-visual project including an abundance of synchronizing visuals, and filming these visualettes was a significant catalyst for the development of the album itself.Christian Lamb, who has worked with the likes of Madonna
Madonna (entertainer)
Madonna is an American singer-songwriter, actress and entrepreneur. Born in Bay City, Michigan, she moved to New York City in 1977 to pursue a career in modern dance. After performing in the music groups Breakfast Club and Emmy, she released her debut album in 1983...
, Incubus
Incubus (band)
Incubus is an American rock band from Calabasas, California. The band was formed in 1991 by vocalist Brandon Boyd, lead guitarist Mike Einziger, and drummer Jose Pasillas while enrolled in high school and later expanded to include bassist Alex "Dirk Lance" Katunich, and Gavin "DJ Lyfe" Koppell;...
, and Ozzy Osbourne
Ozzy Osbourne
John Michael "Ozzy" Osbourne is an English vocalist, whose musical career has spanned over 40 years. Osbourne rose to prominence as lead singer of the pioneering English heavy metal band Black Sabbath, whose radically different, intentionally dark, harder sound helped spawn the heavy metal...
, was initially hired by Amos to shoot footage of her 2007 world tour for an intended live/concert DVD. However, after disagreements with Epic Records
Epic Records
Epic Records is an American record label, owned by Sony Music Entertainment. Though it was originally conceived as a jazz imprint, it has since expanded to represent various genres. L.A...
- the details of which have remained vague in the media, which has only cited "creative and financial differences" - Amos left the label and joined Universal Music Group
Universal Music Group
Universal Music Group is an American music group, the largest of the "big four" record companies by its commanding market share and its multitude of global operations...
, temporarily stalling the completion and release of the DVD.
Along with the creative spurt in song-writing that she was met by during her world tour and while in California the following year, Amos also became increasingly inspired by all of the footage Lamb had shot of her concerts, and which he had already begun to organize and edit. Amos has stated that viewing the footage inspired certain songs, while certain songs inspired the shaping of some of the footage into several of the final vignettes.
As a result of this sudden bit of inspiration, Amos requested that Lamb shoot more footage. The live/concert DVD had suddenly morphed into a complementary "film" that would accompany her next album.
The footage was shot in HD
High-definition video
High-definition video or HD video refers to any video system of higher resolution than standard-definition video, and most commonly involves display resolutions of 1,280×720 pixels or 1,920×1,080 pixels...
and Super 8
Super 8 mm film
Super 8 mm film is a motion picture film format released in 1965 by Eastman Kodak as an improvement of the older "Double" or "Regular" 8 mm home movie format....
and, due to financial limitations, was edited by a series of Lamb's "assistants" causing noted criticism of the films' unfocused and, at times, disparate narratives.
Seemingly inspired more by her love of fashion
Fashion
Fashion, a general term for a currently popular style or practice, especially in clothing, foot wear, or accessories. Fashion references to anything that is the current trend in look and dress up of a person...
, canvas
Canvas
Canvas is an extremely heavy-duty plain-woven fabric used for making sails, tents, marquees, backpacks, and other items for which sturdiness is required. It is also popularly used by artists as a painting surface, typically stretched across a wooden frame...
art
Art
Art is the product or process of deliberately arranging items in a way that influences and affects one or more of the senses, emotions, and intellect....
and paintings rather than by silent films, The Road Chronicles is composed of sixteen vignettes in which Amos can be found “playing” herself, along with the archetypal "dolls” from her previous effort, in dream-sequences infused with myriad metaphors, symbols, images, locations and haute couture
Haute couture
Haute couture refers to the creation of exclusive custom-fitted clothing. Haute couture is made to order for a specific customer, and it is usually made from high-quality, expensive fabric and sewn with extreme attention to detail and finished by the most experienced and capable seamstresses,...
fashion-pieces that are meant to evoke and open up the themes and experiences tackled on each of the corresponding 16 songs.
Amos, herself, has stated, "I began to really think about the idea of a story being told through the visuals and yet the song itself giving us all the information – that’s our dialogue. I didn’t want any lip-syncing."
About the look of the visualettes, Amos has said: "We wanted to do pretty much 8mm and more of a late ‘60’s, indie kind of feeling and that began the visualette world."
In each of the “small films”, as Amos also refers to them, she can be found in a series of scenarios – wandering along the shady streets of a random red-light district
Red-light district
A red-light district is a part of an urban area where there is a concentration of prostitution and sex-oriented businesses, such as sex shops, strip clubs, adult theaters, etc...
; stalking herself in a cemetery; in the throes of a psychic’s reading and a manic ceremonial bath; cruising men late into the night in a shady bar; smoking and "cleansing" herself with ceremonial tobacco smoke – that are meant to evoke some issue or experience from life she is grappling with.
Along with portraying herself, Amos can be seen portraying “the dolls” from 2007's American Doll Posse
American Doll Posse
American Doll Posse is the ninth studio album by singer-songwriter Tori Amos; it was released in 2007. Like her previous albums Strange Little Girls and Scarlet's Walk , American Doll Posse is a concept album, which entails five female personae Amos developed based on Greek mythology. Musically,...
, in an apparent attempt at deconstructing that album's concept.
In these visualettes, all of the dolls seem to be “acting out” various feelings, experiences and fantasies Amos grapples with on the album. The final visualette of the DVD is for the song Abnormally Attracted to Sin, and has Amos entering a church and kneeling before an altar, seemingly coming to terms with her own spirituality and "a natural kind of faith", as she sings on the aforementioned closing-track.
Chapter/Visualette index
(DVD) The tracklisting that forms the backbone to The Road Chronicles differs greatly from the one comprising the standard edition of the album. Amos has stated that this was a purposeful decision on her part, noting, "I think the visualettes connect [the songs] as well. The order is different though, which was very intentional. The order of the visual side of things is different than if you're just putting the sonic thing on headphones and taking a walk. I felt like you had to experience it very, very differently."- "That Guy"
- "Welcome to England"
- "Strong Black Vine"
- "Ophelia"
- "Fast Horse"
- "Fire to Your Plain
- "Curtain Call"
- "Not Dying Today"
- "Maybe California"
- "Give"
- "Police Me"
- "Starling"
- "500 Miles"
- "Flavor"
- "Lady in Blue"
- "Abnormally Attracted to Sin"
Reception
The album received modest to genuinely positive praise from critics, with most negative comments aimed at the album's extensive running time rather than its musical content."[Amos' 10th] studio release finds her in full command of her expanded arsenal, creating an overall sound that's as psychedelic as it is classic," wrote Billboard Magazine, adding, "the sounds coupled with [the] lyrical content [found on the album] — metaphors rendered through literary heroines, religious imagery, exotic food, cities as characters, triple entendres — make for a singular tapestry that, as the artist matures, requires less and less prior knowledge of her catalog to enjoy." Slant Magazine
Slant Magazine
Slant Magazine is an online publication that features reviews of movies, music, TV, DVDs, theater, and video games, as well as interviews with actors, directors, and musicians. The site covers various film festivals like the New York Film Festival.- History :...
gave the album a mixed, yet mostly positive review, exclaiming unapologetically, "It's a genuine relief that [this album] lacks the cumbersome structural conceit of Scarlet's Walk
Scarlet's Walk
Scarlet's Walk is the seventh album released in singer-songwriter Tori Amos' solo career. The 18-track concept album details the cross-country travels of Scarlet, a character loosely based on Amos, as well as the concept of America post-September 11th . The album was the first released by Amos on...
or the dissociative identity disorder of American Doll Posse
American Doll Posse
American Doll Posse is the ninth studio album by singer-songwriter Tori Amos; it was released in 2007. Like her previous albums Strange Little Girls and Scarlet's Walk , American Doll Posse is a concept album, which entails five female personae Amos developed based on Greek mythology. Musically,...
. Rather than suffocating her songs under a pretentious broad construct, here Amos allows them to stand on their own merits and, in turn, demonstrates the superior craft upon which she first made her name." Slug Magazine called it "one of 2009’s finest albums," while the Los Angeles Times
Los Angeles Times
The Los Angeles Times is a daily newspaper published in Los Angeles, California, since 1881. It was the second-largest metropolitan newspaper in circulation in the United States in 2008 and the fourth most widely distributed newspaper in the country....
praised the album's "canny balance between Victorian-inspired decadence, mythical pathos and arch camp." Entertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly is an American magazine, published by the Time division of Time Warner, that covers film, television, music, broadway theatre, books and popular culture...
magazine noted, "Sometimes her brains get a little too big for her Bible. But when she's banging on her piano over layers of lush electronics, she's got the rapture part down."
Reviews in Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone is a US-based magazine devoted to music, liberal politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J...
, Mojo Magazine and Q Magazine were less favorable, although, while criticizing it as a "long haul", the latter did admit that the album contained "some of the best [songs] Amos has written." Spin Magazine noted, "Amos writes no less penetratingly than she did on her first album about the way women navigate the intersection between sex and power," while Pop Matters lauded the album for its experimental sound, calling it an "exploration of the journey from that dark, quiet beginning to that beautifully indulgent conclusion," praising the album's "twists and turns along the way."
Music magazine, Drowned In Sound
Drowned in Sound
DrownedinSound.com or DiS is a UK based music webzine financed by artist management company Silentway . The site is an editorially independent music website.-History:...
, concluded, "Occasionally vague, sometimes incohesive and a little self-indulgent it may be, but ultimately Abnormally Attracted to Sin is an abnormally attractive piece of work, and another fine example of the shining talent that is Tori Amos."
Origins
Amos lifted Abnormally Attracted to Sins title from a line spoken by a main character in the 1955 film Guys and DollsGuys and Dolls (film)
Guys and Dolls is a 1955 musical film starring Marlon Brando, Jean Simmons, Frank Sinatra and Vivian Blaine. The film was made by the Samuel Goldwyn Company and distributed by MGM. It was produced by Samuel Goldwyn, and directed by Joseph L. Mankiewicz, who also wrote the screenplay...
.
The album itself was written and conceived in two stages: the first during Amos's 2007 world tour, while promoting American Doll Posse
American Doll Posse
American Doll Posse is the ninth studio album by singer-songwriter Tori Amos; it was released in 2007. Like her previous albums Strange Little Girls and Scarlet's Walk , American Doll Posse is a concept album, which entails five female personae Amos developed based on Greek mythology. Musically,...
, followed by a spurt of writing and composing during a second phase in July 2008, when Amos reconnected with her former mentor Doug Morris
Doug Morris
Doug Morris is an American music executive. He is the current Chairman and CEO of Sony Music Entertainment. He previously served as Chairman and CEO of the Universal Music Group from 1995 to 2011.-Life and career:...
while visiting California to promote a graphic-novel anthology, Comic Book Tattoo
Comic Book Tattoo
Comic Book Tattoo is an Eisner Award and Harvey Award-winning anthology graphic novel made up of fifty-one stories, each based on or inspired by a song by American singer-songwriter Tori Amos, published by Image Comics in 2008. Rantz Hoseley, longtime friend of Amos, served as the book's editor....
.
During her brief stay in California, Amos revisited some of the old homes and haunts she frequented as a twenty-something singer-songwriter in Los Angeles during the late '80s and that, coupled with some of her own reflections and conclusions as a wife, mother and maturing woman, led to another spontaneous creative spell, providing a catalyst for "a second batch of songs", as Amos puts it, which, when combined with the initial new songs written and composed during late-2007 and early-2008, would end up fleshing out the rest of the album.
Due to both financial limitations and disagreements over the project with her previous label, Epic Records
Epic Records
Epic Records is an American record label, owned by Sony Music Entertainment. Though it was originally conceived as a jazz imprint, it has since expanded to represent various genres. L.A...
, Amos abruptly left the label and the footage shot of her 2007 world-tour morphed into the vignettes or visualettes, as Amos coined them, that would be paired with the new album on an accompanying DVD, The Road Chronicles, as part of an "audio-visual project".
Postponing further work on the planned live DVD of her 2007 world-tour and using some of the complementary footage shot for the DVD to compile a series of vignettes, Amos turned and focused her attention on creating and presenting a multimedia project aimed at deconstructing her previous album's concept and exploring, once again, a more personal and confessional space in the singer-songwriter's life and career, using a juxtaposition between the visual and sonic mediums to broaden and emphasize the personal scope of the project.
Amos' brief stay in L.A. during the summer of 2008 also afforded her the opportunity to revisit her old apartment, in which her debut solo-album, 1991's Little Earthquakes
Little Earthquakes
-B-sides:The album is also known for its collection of B-sides. The four songs recorded with Davitt Sigerson that did not make it to the final version of the album were included on the singles released from Little Earthquakes....
, was written, conceived and, in some instances, recorded. She also made a point of visiting the old church behind which the apartment was built. In past interviews, Amos has stated how songs such as Crucify and Precious Things were written while living behind the church, listening to endless sermons and worship-songs for hours at a time, alone, hurt and depressed behind her failure as a musician (1988's Y Kant Tori Read
Y Kant Tori Read
Y Kant Tori Read was a 1980s synthpop band, fronted by singer-songwriter Tori Amos. The band released one album, also called Y Kant Tori Read, which was largely unsuccessful, perhaps in part because Atlantic Records abandoned promoting the record completely after only two months of release...
), and her role as a victim and survivor of physical and sexual assault. It was a threshold moment for Amos, providing her a time of respite, solace and a bit of reflection regarding her life and past.
Themes and content
With Amos's four preceding albums serving as mouthpieces for various concepts and philosophies, Abnormally Attracted to Sin marks a return to a more personal album, which serves as fertile ground for her loosely-veiled confessions, stark and, at times, exuberant disclosures through which she explores her own experiences, and how she has both defined and been defined by them throughout her life and career. Of the album, Amos has called it a personal album, stating, "it is not a concept albumConcept album
In music, a concept album is an album that is "unified by a theme, which can be instrumental, compositional, narrative, or lyrical." Commonly, concept albums tend to incorporate preconceived musical or lyrical ideas rather than being improvised or composed in the studio, with all songs contributing...
. It is a red-headed woman singing songs."
During an interview with Out Magazine, Amos used the song "Maybe California", a track from the album in which a mother ruminates on leaving her husband and child(ren) "better off" as she contemplates suicide, to explain just how personal writing and composing both the song and the record as a whole were for her: "I wouldn’t have written this record if I hadn’t been pushed — for all kinds of reasons. I don’t want to go into all of it but “Maybe California” doesn’t come from nowhere. You’re not able to write that by having a drink with somebody who’s had the experience and you haven’t. You have to be pushed to that place."
She stated that the mother in the song "is pushed to the point where there's nothing that she can give to stop this terrible emotional cancer that has taken over her family - her life - everything around her." Adding credence to the notion that the song is deeply autobiographical, Amos chose to highlight the despair older, more mature women, such as herself, face: "I began to realize how serious this quiet, tragic problem was and that it's not okay to talk about it, whereas teen suicide or early-20's suicide
Suicide
Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Suicide is often committed out of despair or attributed to some underlying mental disorder, such as depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, alcoholism, or drug abuse...
- it gets discussed and it's almost something where there are [forums] for it. But mothers contemplating this - my God - they're just going to put you in a nuthouse."
On both the aforementioned track and yet another song, "Ophelia", from the album, Amos addresses her own moments of insecurity and self-loathing as a "mature woman". She observed, "The self-harming mind tries to gain [the] control that [it] feels has been taken from [it]. It's this very strange paradox where, by doing the wounding on yourself, you're in the power position. Although, the idea that you've become your own abuser - it's not necessarily being grasped. And so, you can step into that "Ophelia" state of mind - however old you are - where you start that downward spiral and you're not on the 'front-foot' anymore in life, you're on the 'back foot', and there's a victimization-energy around you."
In an exclusive interview with the German
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
division of Amazon.com
Amazon.com
Amazon.com, Inc. is a multinational electronic commerce company headquartered in Seattle, Washington, United States. It is the world's largest online retailer. Amazon has separate websites for the following countries: United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Japan, and...
, Amos continued her emphasis on "the personal": “I think I’ve been having my own life changes happening just like everybody else, and being in California [in July of 2008] for a longer period of time than I normally get to be there kind of pushed me to a place of reevaluating where I am in my life and where I was while I was writing Little Earthquakes
Little Earthquakes
-B-sides:The album is also known for its collection of B-sides. The four songs recorded with Davitt Sigerson that did not make it to the final version of the album were included on the singles released from Little Earthquakes....
. And so I think that’s – that’s what you’re hearing [on this record].”
Amos said, "My songs might be confessional, but I don’t like giving away too many details. One of the reasons I’ve made ten albums and maintained my family life is that I respect my own privacy." She confessed, "At times, I have used made-up characters to keep the media at bay."
During an interview broadcast on youtube.com, "I guess the girl that released Little Earthquakes
Little Earthquakes
-B-sides:The album is also known for its collection of B-sides. The four songs recorded with Davitt Sigerson that did not make it to the final version of the album were included on the singles released from Little Earthquakes....
was not a mother and she was in her 20's and there were a lot of things that she really did discover. She found her voice...and then nine records later, the woman who is putting out Abnormally Attracted to Sin knows what she did with her voice."
Production
Amos finished writing and composing Abnormally Attracted to Sin during the spring and summer of 2008. Recording commenced with Amos accompanied by long-time collaborators Matt Chamberlain, Jon Evans, Mark Hawley/"Mac Aladdin" (Amos's husband), and John Philip Shenale, at Amos's husband's studio, Martian Studios, in CornwallCornwall
Cornwall is a unitary authority and ceremonial county of England, within the United Kingdom. It is bordered to the north and west by the Celtic Sea, to the south by the English Channel, and to the east by the county of Devon, over the River Tamar. Cornwall has a population of , and covers an area of...
, with final mixing and mastering extending into the initial months of 2009.
Amos chose a dark and intricately "detailed sonic landscape" for the album, and has mentioned that the production that went into the album reminded her of the experience she and her collaborators had creating From the Choirgirl Hotel
From the Choirgirl Hotel
From the Choirgirl Hotel is the fourth studio album by American singer and songwriter Tori Amos. A departure from her previous albums, it was more heavily produced and a very radio-friendly project featuring a full rock band sound . Upon its release in May 1998, the album debuted at US #5 and UK #6...
(1998), which showcased various samplers
Sampler (musical instrument)
A sampler is an electronic musical instrument similar in some respects to a synthesizer but, instead of generating sounds, it uses recordings of sounds that are loaded or recorded into it by the user and then played back by means of a keyboard, sequencer or other triggering device to perform or...
and synthesizers.
On developing the sound of one of the songs and of the album in general, Amos declared, "It became much more of a technology experiment [with] the piano being there but in this strange world."
Album
The chart below lists the album debut positions (within the top 30) in major markets around the globe.| Chart (2009) |
Peak position |
|---|---|
| Billboard 200 (US) | 9 |
| Billboard Top Digital Albums (US) | 6 |
| Billboard Top Internet Albums (US) | 4 |
| Official UK Album Chart (UK) | 20 |
| ARIA Album Chart (Australia) | 28 |
| Belgian Albums Chart (Flanders) | 23 |
| Canadian Albums Chart | 15 |
| Dutch Albums Chart | 22 |
| Finnish Albums Chart | 20 |
| German Albums Chart | 16 |
| Polish Albums Chart | 7 |
| Swiss Albums Chart | 14 |
| Italian Albums Chart | 30 |
Additionally, the album debuted at #2 on the following two genre-specific Billboard charts: the Top Modern Rock/Alternative Albums chart and the Top Rock Albums chart.
Singles
"Welcome To England" served as the lead single from Abnormally Attracted to Sin. The single was released for digital download on April 14, 2009, in the US, and on May 25, 2009 in the UK, a week after the release of the album. Like most of Amos's singles released this decade, "Welcome to England" was released only as a digital single. The single entered the Billboard Triple AAdult album alternative
Adult album alternative is a radio format. A spinoff from the album-oriented rock format, its roots trace to the 1960s and 1970s from the earlier freeform and progressive formats....
chart in May 2009, and in June ascended into the chart's top 10, making it Amos's fifth single to reach the Triple A top 10.
"Maybe California" reached #1 in Portugal.
| Title | Chart | Position |
|---|---|---|
| "Welcome to England " (2009) | US AAA Adult album alternative Adult album alternative is a radio format. A spinoff from the album-oriented rock format, its roots trace to the 1960s and 1970s from the earlier freeform and progressive formats.... |
10 |
| "Welcome to England " (2009) | Belgian Singles Chart “Tip” (Wallonia) | 26 |
| "Maybe California" (2009) | Portugal Portugal Portugal , officially the Portuguese Republic is a country situated in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of Europe, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the West and South and by Spain to the North and East. The Atlantic archipelagos of the... |
01 |
Musicians
- Tori Amos – vocals, piano, Wurlitzer, Hammond, synths
- Matt ChamberlainMatt ChamberlainMatthew Chamberlain is an American drummer, producer and sound engineer. He is currently based in Los Angeles, California.-Early life:...
– drums & percussion - Jon Evans – bass
- Mac Aladdin – electric guitar
- John Philip Shenale – strings, Wurlitzer, Hammond
Production
- Tori Amos – record producerRecord producerA record producer is an individual working within the music industry, whose job is to oversee and manage the recording of an artist's music...
- Mark Hawley – mixerAudio mixing (recorded music)In audio recording, audio mixing is the process by which multiple recorded sounds are combined into one or more channels, most commonly two-channel stereo. In the process, the source signals' level, frequency content, dynamics, and panoramic position are manipulated and effects such as reverb may...
- Marcel van Limbeek – mixer
- Christian Lamb – videography
- Karen Collins – photography
Release history
Like all of Amos's post-AtlanticAtlantic Records
Atlantic Records is an American record label best known for its many recordings of rhythm and blues, rock and roll, and jazz...
releases, Abnormally Attracted to Sin is offered in both standard and limited edition versions, the latter including a DVD containing 'visualettes' that provide a video accompaniment to most of the album tracks.
| Country | Date | Label | Format | Catalogue number(s) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Australia Australia Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area... |
15 May 2009 | Universal Republic Universal Republic Universal Republic Records is a record label, owned by Universal Music Group. It is based on the now-defunct Republic Records label founded by brothers Monte and Avery Lipman... |
CD Compact Disc The Compact Disc is an optical disc used to store digital data. It was originally developed to store and playback sound recordings exclusively, but later expanded to encompass data storage , write-once audio and data storage , rewritable media , Video Compact Discs , Super Video Compact Discs ,... |
060252703435 |
| Belgium Belgium Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many... |
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| Netherlands | ||||
| Poland Poland Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north... |
Universal Music Group Universal Music Group Universal Music Group is an American music group, the largest of the "big four" record companies by its commanding market share and its multitude of global operations... |
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| United Kingdom United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages... |
18 May 2009 | Island Island Records Island Records is a record label that was founded by Chris Blackwell in Jamaica. It was based in the United Kingdom for many years and is now owned by Universal Music Group... |
2704664 | |
| Canada Canada Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean... |
19 May 2009 | Republic | ||
| United States United States The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district... |
Universal Republic | 001287302 (standard) | ||
| 001290110 (deluxe) | ||||
| LP LP album The LP, or long-playing microgroove record, is a format for phonograph records, an analog sound storage medium. Introduced by Columbia Records in 1948, it was soon adopted as a new standard by the entire record industry... |
001290601 |