Issue link: http://digital.copcomm.com/i/884046
October/November 2017 27 art & soul MUSIC W hen the world feels the most unstable, the rare bright spot is that good artists are usually at the top of their game. Singer/songwriter/pianist Tori Amos is no exception—her 15th album, Native Invader, is a powerful, gorgeous listen. More lyrically accessible and sonically varied than previous releases like 2014's Unrepentant Geraldines and 2011's Night of Hunters, Native Invader hooks listeners nearly instantly with "Reindeer King," and its haunting, beautiful chorus ("You gotta get you back to you; Get you back to you"). Other memorable songs like "Wings," "Cloud Riders," and "Wildwood" weave personal stories open to interpretation, but "Bats," "Benjamin," and "Up the Creek" feature direct references to our precarious environmental state. Infl uenced by the shocking presidential election and the dangers our world faces, Amos avoids a dispiriting message and chooses one of uplift, especially on "Creek" ("Knowledge sown in Gaia's bones… Her uncorrupted soul will not be possessed or owned"). "Bang" is a dark take on war and intolerance, which directs us to resist, not despair ("Not traumatized by a cluster of hostile humans who side with their warlords of hate; so we must out-create with the backbone of night to re-humanize"). The closing song of Native Invader's Deluxe Edition doesn't beat around the bush — "Russia" includes the lyrics, "For those in Washington, there is only one question; Is Stalin on your shoulder?" Native Invader doesn't only concern itself with Trump's America, but also the debilitating stroke of Amos's mother, Mary Ellen. "Mary's Eyes" sounds like Amos trying to cast a spell to resurrect her mother's health ("What's behind Mary's eyes? The Death Midwife, can you bring her back to life?"). But whether personal or political, Amos is at her artistic zenith on Native Invader; a small triumph in a very diffi cult time. (Decca Records) —Neal Broverman "W hat are you going to tell your family tonight about your day? I can tell them that I was here protecting the water for your children, and future generations," says a water protector about his conversation with a police offi cer on duty to defend the international company wanting to put an oil pipeline under the Missouri river. The river is a source of drinking water for 18 million people. Oil pipelines burst frequently, and cause irreparable damage to nature, and to the essential ingredient of all of life: water. This is the premise for the resistance movement that sprung up in North Dakota's Morton County in the Native American sacred burial grounds in the summer 2016. Now these recent events have been made into a refreshing, poetic, and pristine documentary fi lm: Awake: A Dream from Standing Rock. The fi lm depicts the spiritual non-violent resistance upheld by the water protectors during the months-long stand-off with riot gear police offi cers, and private security guards with their attack dogs ready to be unleashed on unarmed civilians. Throughout the fi lm, the water protectors pray and chant Native American rhythms. This is the heart of their spiritual strength facing the police pepper spraying them, hosing them with cold water in freezing temperatures, shooting rubber bullets, and having dogs attack them. The water protectors courageously never lose their peaceful demeanor. Awake makes a statement for human rights threatened to be trampled by big oil and big banks. The Standing Rock resistance has inspired hundreds of movements against pollution in the US and internationally. The fi lm arrives at a perfect moment, because "you can't drink oil." (Bullfrog Films) —Sari Sarlund Directed by Myron Dewey AWAKE: A Dream from Standing Rock Native Invader FILM Tori Amos