Tori Amos. To quote Obi-Wan Kenobi in Star Wars, “Now that’s a name I haven’t heard in a long time.”

The indie singer-songwriter released her 16th album, Ocean to Ocean, last month. And while I feel like she has been missing since her heyday in the early 90s, this is actually her fifth new studio album in the past decade. In fact, the four years between this record and her last is the longest she’s gone between releases in her career.

My experience with Amos began and ended with her 1992 debut, Little Earthquakes. That seems to be the case for many listeners, as that album remains her top seller by a long shot.

I’m sure I must have sampled her next two albums, Under the Pink and Boys For Pele, and maybe even her fourth, From the Choirgirl Hotel. But nothing on them stuck with me.

I do recall being quite taken with Little Earthquakes, though. It was a raw, emotional album with beautiful piano work. And while Amos didn’t hold my interest, Fiona Apple came along a few years later and hit the same sweet spot much harder.

‘Speaking With Trees,’ the lead single from Ocean to Ocean, is a solid track. It’s about the 2019 loss of Amos’ mother.